


Universe, now.

by Achini



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: 2012 Loki, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Loki Wins, Avenger Loki (Marvel), Eventual Romance, F/M, Loki and tesseract, Loki finds love, Loki lands in the east and is v.confused, Loki loses tesseract, POV Loki (Marvel), Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-05-19 11:18:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 64,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19355980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Achini/pseuds/Achini
Summary: After Loki steals the Tesseract from the Avengers again, he ends up in the most unexpected destination; on a rooftop of a woman so loud and unbearable, in a part of Midgard he'd never experienced before.And what's worse? The Tesseract was gone.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I'm new to MCU and Loki is literally my favorite character. However, certain information could be inaccurate, and in case they were, please do enlighten me. I'm glad to learn, and it's a blessing to be here.

It was the beginning of the Monsoon. The sky was darker, the wind was chillier. Even the moods of the people just felt damp, as if a wet blanket had been splayed over the world. The rain pitter pattered down the glass panes as young women sat by the windows, feeling the cold of the autumn glooms with their fingertips. The roads were damp, and from a distance, all that could be seen were hundreds and hundreds of transparent umbrellas of different colours and shades moving about. From where I was, it’s about 30 feet to the ground. The ledge that I sat on was wet, the rooftop itself had puddles after the rain. Would I slip, it would be thirty feet a fall, a bunch of broken bones and a possibly screwed back. But I couldn’t help it, really. I’d promised her, the old landlady of mine, for time to pay rent late in exchange of fixing her satellite dish. It was either the apartment, or my life. And I would rather sacrifice myself for the former.

When I had first moved into this city, fixing people’s satellite dishes was the last thing I wished I would be doing here. I was very pretty, they said; and also, very small and equally very Japanese. I moved into Seoul just a couple of months ago in hopes that this land would be more promising for me. I hate how it almost sounds like an old person, the way I’d been thinking. This land? What had I been expecting? For the ground to nurture and prosper the moment I set my foot in it? I enrolled into university, that’s what happened. And I auditioned for ten different companies and failed. Then I rented a dingy little rooftop studio, to pay the rent of which I had to do another ten different part time jobs, which included fixing people’s things. Not a very usual job for a girl, one would say. But my father was a fixer, and I used to fix along with him. That used to be my life, until I started developing dreams and hopes as a teenager, ones I hadn’t thought were impossible to achieve. Years later, here I was, back to fixing, back to square one.

The wind was howling around me, and my clothes were stuck to me by the drizzle. The rain would get harder at any moment, and if I didn’t end up falling off the ledge, then I’d probably roast to dead by a lightning bolt.

The satellite dish had come off the hinges, only because my landlady, Missus Lee got inconveniently angry and meddled with it when her TV screen went all grainy and she could no longer see that trot show of hers. As it happened, the TV itself as well as the cable had been just fine; it was the channel from their end that had screwed. But there was no point in explaining anything to her. My hands were slippery as I held the dish in place and tried to screw in the bolts. It was a difficult task in itself, given that the wind was pushing the dish away along with me. I knew that I had to wait until the rain stopped. But this, this what I was doing showed real dedication. Missus Lee would actually feel sympathetic and would probably even reduce my rent. It’s a win-win, I suppose. 

In a moment, the rain just went up in multitudes. Thunder started crashing in the distance, the sky grew gloomier, raindrops the size of stones falling sideways, dampening me completely. There was no way that I could continue fixing this. On the other hand, it was halfway fixed, and if I left it like this, the dish would pull off the hinges and fall. With great determination, I held onto the dish. Even if I got hit with a lightning, I would hold on. It was to pay for my living circumstances, to feed my cat, to survive. If I could survive hunger, suffering and poverty, what on earth could a lightning strike do to me?

But I was wrong. Very, very wrong.

  


 


	2. 1: When the Lightning strikes

At one point, he had it in his possession, the next, he didn’t; the Tesseract. Loki had been told numerous times during and after that time in ‘New York’ (Which he’d rather not talk about) that he might have grown a particular obsession over its energy and the power that it gave to his hands. He wouldn’t have known, really. He didn’t, until he fell through a wormhole and landed _there_ . He didn’t, not until _‘The other’_ had told him all the power that it held. _The other_ one wanted it, and he promised to find it in exchange for a _Chitaurian_ army and power over Midgard. Things happened, things changed. His older brother ruined everything (like he always would) along with a bunch of mortals with superpowers and a massive green fool who slammed him to the ground. He still remembered that time, the pain and the suffering more vividly than ever. He could still feel it in every pore of his body, how he struggled but had now strength to fight against the constraints. He was a mere puppet, abused and used. There was no redemption, even now that everything had ended. Yet, at least for now, and he’s away from ‘The other’. Loki would rather not think about _The other_ , or of New York, or his brother and his fools again. Everything that he’d pretty much allowed to dust away in the past. Yet, his brother and his fools messed up somehow. (As it happens, the mortals, the Midgardians were more of fools than he’d imagined. In a way, it would have been easier to rule over them, on the other hand, he just didn’t want to. Loki’s high intellect was no match to the level of intelligence that the mortals appeared to have) And at that point that they did, the cosmic cube returned to his hands again, and just as the opportunity arose, he took it. Loki travelled through the cosmos and time again.

The thing about the Cosmic cube was that the wielder would never know what its destination would be. The universe was a vast singularity, and there were nine realms to travel through. He hadn’t even thought of the possibility of other universes that the object would open up to him. That made it even more horrifying and exciting just the same. The destination was never definite, but the energy it carried, the power it would charge him with was infinite. He could rule over the realm, any realm that he would land into; and perhaps, over the nine realms and strip his old father Odin of his power.

That’s what he’d had in mind when he’d wielded the Tesseract at that time. The avengers had him chained up, his mouth clasped too since his brother couldn’t stand him questioning the Midgardian intelligence (which wasn’t much to talk about, if he’d been asked) and he’d yielded, only because he was just too tired to fight against the restraints. His head was pounding, almost as if a large weight had been placed upon him. And it wasn’t helping that he was surrounded with a bunch of absolute fools. If you’d ask him, he’d rather return to Asgard and listen to his father’s mewling than stay another second here. Its for the best, that he’d leave Midgard for good, even if it possibly meant being confronted by Odin (Or ‘answer’ to him, like Thor, his older brother had most proudly put) and probably be jailed. It's a comfort to think about his home again. It was a comfort, most importantly, to think about his mother, eagerly anticipating his return.

But alas, when things somehow went off hand as the Avengers ushered him through the infamous ‘Stark’ towers. (Its big and ugly, in his humblest opinion) he’d picked up the Tesseract only because it tempted him; its energy, it power, the thousand many possibilities it carried. But he didn’t, for one second, think of where it could take him. He thought about freedom, he thought about escape; of his father, his brother, of living in their incessant darkness, this time even worse as he would be thrown in the dungeon to repent his crimes. And then he allowed the Tesseract to carry him across the universe, take him away.

Then he landed. There was a massive blue wormhole up in the sky, and it was damp all over, water just about everywhere. There was a loud crash of thunder, and for a moment he’d feared if the god of thunder had followed. Loki had his eyes closed for the longest time, his hands still chained, held against his chest. The thundering continued, the surrounding continued to get wetter, so did his hair, so did his clothes. It felt cold upon his skin. Travelling across the universe wasn’t easy. But it was indeed spectacular. The smoke around him slowly died out, and his senses gradually adjusted to his new environment. Only then did he hear it, the screaming.

There was a woman, or a child? He couldn’t really tell. And she was making a noise so loud that he was compelled to run a dagger right through her. He couldn’t wield the daggers, of course. He was still chained. It was just slowly that he came to an understanding that there was something even greater amiss. Something stronger. He could not feel it anymore, that energy and that power he had grown so used to. The Tesseract, yet again, was gone.

 

In the whole twenty five years of my life, I could safely say that I have experienced all sorts of weird situations. I’d done about fifty different jobs; I’d flushed large turds down the toilet bowls, found used condoms under office tables, and then once a homeless old man sleeping near the garbage disposal who, I’d assumed was dead but the police ruled out that he wasn’t. But of all the things I’d seen in my life, I’d never seen anything stranger than the man who’d just fallen from the sky onto my rooftop.

Everything happened so fast. I was there in the storm, trying to fix Missus Lee’s satellite dish, and the loud thunder that followed, almost splitting my head apart, only meant that I’d been hit by a thunderbolt. When I was thrown off my feet with such an unimaginable force, sending me flying across the rooftop, my first reaction was to pray. It was so sudden, yet I’d thought I’d died. But when I finally came to, when the noise died down and when the thundering returned to what it was before, distant and relatively less louder, I’d looked up from where I lied on the floor. And there he was, that strange menacing man, crouched on my rooftop in his green caped glory.

My first reaction, as would be for anyone, was to scream. I screamed and screamed as if it made any difference, and then I was down to the point of denial. I was concussed, that’s what I was. I had hit my head somewhere and I was beginning to see things. I lied back on the ground only because it felt much better to not see what had transpired, to pretend that it hadn’t happened at all. I closed my eyes and just remained, breathing hard, all until I heard the sound of chains tinkling, and then footsteps. I suppose, when you imagine things, you strangely imagined their sounds too..

I opened one eye, and was only greeted by the man in green standing above me, unbelievably tall, incredibly intimidating and strangely, darkly beautiful. And he was in chains, a piece of iron clasped over his mouth, his long green cape dancing in  the wind behind him. The dark stormy sky seemed to give him an eerily beautiful backdrop, and not seeing the look of his eyes as his long, dark hair flew in the breeze made him appear even more mysterious. For a moment, I wondered if I’d indeed passed out. But then there was a small tap on my calf, and I glanced down to see that he’d nudged me with the tip of his boot. He was real. There was a man who’d crashed from the sky in front of me, and he was kicking me with his boot and I could feel it on my skin. 

For a moment, I was unsure of what I should do. Run downstairs and tell Missus Lee? She had a frail heart and she would die in heart failure would she see him. On the other hand, he was potentially dangerous; why else would he be in chains? A possible fugitive that had escaped; an alien that was being carried over the world in a storm to be sent to jail for trying to attack the world, something straight out of a science fiction or a fairy tale? Ridiculous. As he kept nudging on my calf and since it was beginning to get annoying, I finally sat up and wiped my face against the rain. He slowly crouched down before me, and terrified, I slid back against the hard ground. He was so close, and I saw his eyes for the very first time. Cold, distant, captivating; and very, very blue.

“What-what are you?” I asked, first in my language, then seeing as that he had blue wider eyes, I somehow ventured it out in English. I had spent half my life in Canada, growing up with my father, yet it came out in a stammer, my lips trembling not only by the cold around me.

He gaped at me for a moment, his eyes still cold and distant, emotionless. And then, for my greatest amazement, he rolled his eyes. He rolled his eyes in the most dramatic way I’d ever seen a man would do, and gestured with his chained hands at the iron piece on his mouth.

Right, yes. He couldn’t speak, hence not answer to my question. 

I nodded. I wasn’t sure why I even did that, responding to a fragment of my imagination, or a crazy mental image I’d created from all the books I’ve possibly read. But I couldn’t help but observe just how real it felt. The sound of the chains was real, the sound of his footsteps on the damp ground was real, the way he’d looked into my eyes, as if he’d seen right into my soul was real. This man here was more real than anything that I believed in, and yet; it was unbelievable. Nothing made sense. He’d just literally fallen through the sky from what just seemed to be a hole in it. Where he’d landed, I realized, was a strange mythical pattern, like the ones that they’d probably have in Machu Picchu. He was in chains and was dressed in heavy armor, the intricate patterns on the brass of his gear so prominent. I was running bonkers, and nothing made sense.

The man was walking in circles for a while, looking around himself, gazing down at the heavy brass handcuffs on his wrists and then setting his eyes across the horizon. The rain had ceased, and the satellite dish was on the floor by his feet. He purposefully avoided hitting it as he continued to walk in circles, and I suppose I could hear him muttering under his breath. And admittedly so, there was no more sassy conceit remaining in his eyes. Instead their was fear, uncertainty, concern; almost as if he’d ended up in a place that he never wanted to be.

I was considering and weighing all my possible options, given the circumstances, when I heard a voice from the bottom floor. Missus Lee was yelling over the howling of the wind. Despite her age, she really did have a strong will to reach whatever she desired, and that also included me who lived on the fourth floor and two sets of iron staircases away.  The man from the sky seemed to have heard it too. He immediately paused on his track, attentively paying attention to where the sound was coming from. He stared at the direction of the stairs, his hands tightening in their constraints. He tried his best to not let the chains move. I suppose, even the most intimidating evil alien bad guy would still be scared of one thing in the world. He then glanced down at me, almost as if he was begging for help. There was a depth in his eyes which seemed to explain all the emotions that he couldn’t possibly put into words. Chained and refrained, unable to speak and in a completely different world, I suppose any bad guy in his place would be terrified. And he was, no doubt. I almost felt like my heart was about to give away.

It was when I heard footsteps up the iron stairs that I finally climbed up on my feet. The man looked genuinely panicked, looking about him, staring at the stairs, waiting for the worst. And I could swear to god, it just raised something inside me. Something significant just shifted. The man wanted to be saved, and I wanted to grant him just that.

“Momo? What was that!?!” Missus Lee was yelling in Korean, her voice even closer. I approached the alien in record speed and caught his wrist with an edge of his gold armor. He looked at me, I noticed just how tall he appeared. Tall, beautiful, captivating. Never had I seen an alien more beautiful. And there was something that I could only rule out as fear in his eyes.

“Momo? MOMO!!”

The sound on the staircase even closer, and I tried to drag the man with his arm. He was heavy, unmoving. Distant. “Come on. You can’t be seen” I told him, yet he just stared, as if he didn’t understand the point.

“You’ve got to hide” I tried again and tried to get him to move. “Come on, I just want to help” 

When he refused to move yet again, I decided to tell the truth. “That’s an old woman and you…” I gestured at his golden armour, “...looking like this would _kill_ her”

At the mention of kill, something seemed to ignite in him. He visibly shrugged, his shoulders falling, and as the steps grew closer, I dragged him towards my studio apartment, pushed him inside, where he conveniently complied. Then I closed the door behind him. A few seconds later, Missus Lee trudged up the stairs and traversed the narrow path towards the apartment, her tiny inquisitive eyes searching.

“I swear I heard something break here” She said, hands on her hips as she walked about. I glanced over at my apartment. Nini, my cat was probably wandering about, and I didn’t feel too great about leaving her alone in there with a possible first degree axe murderer from another planet.

“Aha! I knew it” Missus Lee kicked at the satellite dish on the floor and I hissed under my breath. So much for trying to win sympathy and brownie points. I would probably have to scrape and starve for the next few months, just so that I could pay the rent and compensate for the fallen dish.

“It-it was the lightning!” I tried to argue. “And the storm! I was trying to fix it-,”

“Who would fix cable TV in the rain?” Missus Lee yelled back. “I knew it! I knew you’d do something mad when you said you would fix it”

“B-but-?” I tried again, and Missus Lee approached me in small strides. “I don’t care what. You better fix my TV or start looking for houses again”

There was no way out of this now. It was almost as if all the deities were standing against me. My landlady was trying to throw me out of my own house, inside of which I was hiding an alien fugitive in a green cape that had fallen from the sky. Strange how it took only less than ten seconds for my life to go into ruins.

When Missus Lee had gone down her way again, muttering to herself in her old yet demonic ways, I returned to my house and slowly opened the door, stepping in. When I’d stepped out of this place with my tool kit in hand, my life was completely different. Boring, uneventful but in peace. Now as I stepped in again, with no toolbox in hand, it was in complete chaos, so many things had happened all at once, and there was an alien in my kitchen, evidently going through the drawer where I kept my knives.

Cold sweat pooled underneath my collar. I felt slightly better upon feeling Nini wrapping itself against my calf. But it just worsened when the alien turned around, a large chopping knife in hand. I gulped. He was probably going to kill me and hide every bit of me in three hundred different parts of the earth.

“What...what do you want from me?”

The alien looked at me, almost tiredly as if he’d had enough dealing with me, and rolled his eyes. I looked at the knife in his hand, and it slowly began to make sense. He was only trying to get rid of the metal clasp on his mouth. He was trying to speak.

“Oh, um...right” I shifted on my feet, and then I made a small step towards him. Then I paused. it was an alien with a knife in hand that I was about to deal with. I held up my hands in surrender. “Okay. I’m going to help you take it off, but you must promise not to kill me”

He rolled his eyes again. For a man who’d literally fallen from the sky, he seemed to have absolutely no fucks to give. 

“I’m being honest” I prompted on. He stared at me, then sighed, his shoulders falling. And he nodded in response.

“Good” I stepped over to him, ignoring the tremble I felt all over me. It wasn’t the cold, I was sure. It was plenty warm inside.

The man was considerably taller, perhaps twice as much as I was, so it was impossible to do anything. I made him sit down in the only kitchen chair I had, and he seemed to have a hard time complying, as if he’d never taken orders from anyone in his life. He did comply, in the end, when he understood my predicament. I approached him, cautiously as I would, to a safe distance where I could examine the metal part upon his face. It was made of a hard metal that I had never seen. _Alien metal_. I’d initially thought it was a part of him, given the gear that he wore. But it wasn’t. it was most definitely a part of his prisoner constraints.

A prisoner. A fugitive. What were the chances of him killing me? I must be crazy, absolutely bonkers enough to do this.

As good as I was with fixing things, I was equally talented in breaking things. My father used to mock me for how surprisingly capable I was in destruction, elegantly taking things apart as he would put it. This instance, however, I was terrified to take my chances. I feared for my life, especially by the way his eyes widened and stared right through me, as if he was contemplating all the ways he could kill me. Yet, something drove me to do this for him. Perhaps, it was that smallest tinge of hopelessness inside them.

There were no bolts and screws on it, the metal was too hard to crack, and I was too afraid that I’d hurt his skin which just appeared too beautiful to leave a scar on. In the end, I opted to dismantle it, piece by piece. It was not an easy task itself, and time consuming. Give it fifteen minutes of his unwilling patience and my hard work, the piece somehow came apart.

To be honest, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was expecting when I’d taken the piece off him. But I had to admit, it was somewhere along the line of pointy teeth and a slithering long tongue that could possibly wrap around a neck and snap it with a tug. What I surely did not expect was a pair of velvety thin lips and a pearly set of teeth. If anything, I did not expect him to look anything like this. So beautiful...so _human_.

“Hi” I said without a second thought. The man was quiet for a moment, and I was half expecting him to transform into a beast and wholly consume me. But instead, he just looked at me, then at his hands. 

“These too, if you will”

I was just too stunned for a moment, the sound of his voice echoing in my ears. For an alien, he had a strangely attractive voice. Deep, velvety, a sound so pleasant. I couldn’t even begin to ask him if he was to kill me. Instead, I just found myself merely complying. The handcuffs just came off easier after the chains being cut off. Once his wrists were free, he gazed down at them as if he finally experienced the freedom. Then he climbed up on his feet.

I didn’t think I’d ever get around to accept just how tall and magnificent he seemed. A devastatingly compelling presence. He seemed to draw you to him, and push you away in the same strength; it was terrifying.

“Where am I?” He asked. It was only his voice that echoed in my small apartment. It took me a moment to find my voice. Even still, I held one of my tools in my hand, just for safety. God knew what this thing was capable of.

“Uh, Seoul” I replied simply.

The man narrowed his eyes. “I beg your pardon?”

A polite alien. Strange, really. “It’s...it’s uh Seoul. And you-you’re in my house”

“Your house. in Soul” He replied, looking around as if the surrounding physically offended him.

“Seoul” I corrected him. “It-it’s a city...in a country...the capital-”

“Which part of the earth?” He interrupted.

“Um” I contemplated carefully. What were the chances that he actually knew his geography? Judging by the cape, highly unlikely. “The east?”

“Away from New York?”

New York. An alien who knew New York. Perhaps that’s where he’d first landed. I had no surprise, to be honest. It was as if all of those movies where all aliens seemed to attack the west first seemed to be true.

“Six, seven thousand miles?”

“Hm” He turned away. A moment of quietness, and he looked back at me. Every time he did, my heart jumped a little, still expecting him to turn into something more menacing.

“Mortal” He called me, and I blinked. Wherever the alien had landed from, he seemed to have raised with an extreme sense of supremacy and tyranny over the powerless. “What shall I call you?”

I didn’t think he’d take to my name well. “I’m Momo, Miyawaki Momo”

He was quiet for a moment, head tilted, thoughtful. Then he winced. “Is that what they call you?”

“Just…” I sighed. I guessed as much. “Momo”

“ _More - more_ ” He winced. “Quite an unusual name, I must say”

“It’s _Momo_ ” I amended him.

“I did hear you” He snapped impatiently. “Regardless, it doesn’t matter. As you can see, I am not from around here and I have a great many things to do”

I shrugged. 

Quietness, and he addressed me a few seconds later, his voice sounded softer, perhaps apologetic even. “Forgive me, I believe I’m just...disoriented at the moment. I hadn’t expected…” He sighed, looked down at his hands, appearing genuinely remorseful and somehow quite perplexed, and lifted his head. “I must thank you, first. I wouldn’t have been able to free myself”

I gulped. “It was...no problem”

He nodded, staring down at his feet, and then gave me a tight smile. An alien who was polite, sounded like he’d come from the times of Shakespeare and who actually smiled. I was now beginning to wonder what planet it could have been. Or if it was an alien at all. 

“Do allow me to introduce myself” He said then and turned around to stand before me. An exquisite creature he was really. It was certain he was not human, but he just seemed too good to be alien either. I remained quiet, urging him to speak. There was no better way to find out, unless he revealed to himself.

And he did.

“I’m Loki. Prince of Asgard, the rightful king of Jotunheim and God...of Mischief”


	3. 2: To the gods, we pray

One thing he’d noticed prominently in humans was this; they really didn’t take well to him revealing that he was a god. Based on what he’d learned from his time in Midgard, humans of different communities had gods of their own, who, by any means did not rule over them. (He couldn’t really understand these gods of them, if he was to be honest) Humans prayed to them, worshipped them and did indeed kneel before them. But none actually ruled them, ‘governments’ did. And most importantly, the gods, they just weren’t there. Not in any physical forms, except for mere sculptures of what could have been only a vague image that humans could have possibly created, gods who wielded no power, gods who just existed, perhaps as concepts, or fragments in their minds. 

When he’d admitted to the mortal where he’d come from, what he was, her narrow eyes widened, not doing very well as she absorbed this new information. For a moment, he thought she’d pass out. Not that any of them have passed out before, but only because she actually appeared like it. He wondered if she was one of them, one who worshipped her own god and carried her own belief, someone who really couldn’t accept that gods of his likes actually did exist. It seemed to take her a while to recollect herself. He’d thought she’d really fall; But instead, she grasped the edge of the table, gaped at him for far too longer than he could tolerate and said. “But I thought you were an alien?”

Loki wasn’t sure how he would break it to her, that most gods, if not all, that they worshipped here on earth were most likely to be very much alien, given that they were not of this world.

“I do come from another realm, yes” He replied kindly.

If he were to be honest, during his time on earth, he had learned a few things. What he’d realised, through his brief and occasional encounters with earthlings was that, If he was not so driven by force and his fear, he could actually do well with good acquaintanceships. And to build good acquaintanceships with mortals, he actually had to be...nice. And to be nice, well-,

“And what realm is that?” She pushed on.

“Asgard” He simply replied.

“Never heard of it”

Loki just shrugged. 

He simply did not have the time or the patience to indulge a mere mortal on her genuine curiosities. Admittedly so, he did seem to carry millions of questions himself, being a god and all. But he just did not have the time. The Tesseract was missing, and he had to find it before it falls into the wrong hands. And what's even worse was that he could not feel its energy, its power surging and wafting around him. If it did, he could have summoned it to him, himself. It was nowhere around him, and he hadn’t the sheer ability to locate it on his own. The previous time, it was ‘The other’ who’d led him to it, and on earth the only one who could knowingly track its cosmic energy was Professor Selvig, who was probably somewhere in New York. As how the mortal had put it, six thousand miles away.

He walked around in a circle, and did not realise that the mortal was quietly scrutinizing him. He paused for a moment and directed his attention to her. “Say, mortal,”

“ _ More-more _ ” She interrupted, but he carried on, ignoring her. “Is there any way that I could come into contact with Professor Selvig?”

She raised her brows. “Who is Professor Selvig?”

“Astrophysicist?” That’s what he was, as far as he remembered. 

“Err…” The mortal shifted on her feet. Loki kept staring as he hadn’t the time to idle around. The mortal seemed to get the message through. “Right” she sighed. “Let me get my laptop”

 

A few minutes later, Loki and Momo sat by the table, the device opened up and on its screen was a photograph of doctor Selvig the astrophysicist. There was all the unnecessary blather which the woman was reading aloud. Loki moved away from her and unconsciously walked around the narrow space in circles once more. He wasn’t sure what had transpired in his journey through the cosmic space and time. It was unusual that it had redirected him back to earth, although to a completely different part of it. The question was, could there be an outside force which manipulated its energy? Was he meant to land here? If he had, then where was the Tesseract? Had the outside force taken it away from him? Seeing that the earth seemed to have a great many ‘surprises’ that he hadn’t ever expected (His brother Thor probably hadn’t seen half of it, despite his conceited talks) it wasn’t impossible that there was a more powerful force soughting after the cosmic cube. He could still remember Nick Fury, how that man had desired its unlimited power just as much as he did. At that time, Loki didn’t entirely sought that sort of power. He couldn’t fight against the pressure, the restraints. His mind led him in different directions that his conscious definitely never wanted. Loki wanted to rule over the earth; but he had never meant violence, anger, war. A benevolent god; that’s what he had truly sought to be. A god that they would worship and pray to, one that they’d put high up on a pedestal, one just as powerful as Thor, and one that had the authority of one of the realms that Odin’s power splayed over. The Tesseract would have granted that; but things clearly did not transpire as he’d desired. Once, he was manipulated. Then, his only greatest source of power was gone.

He wondered if there was anything similar to S.H.I.E.L.D in this _Soul_ place as well. If it did, well then he’d somehow have to grant himself access and have the Tesseract to himself, in whatever the means.

“Mortal” He called again.

“Hm?” The mortal hummed distractedly as she went up and down on the screen in a dizzying manner. He avoided looking at it.

“Is there a facility called S.H.I.E.L.D here in  _ Soul _ ?”

“ _ Soul _ ” She repeated, which he ignored again. She then turned to him. “What’s that? The thing that handles aliens?”

Loki rolled his eyes. “I’m a god not an  _ Alien _ ” 

“We don’t have a shield” The mortal sighed and climbed up on her feet. “But we have a police, which is where I think you belong to” The mortal folded her hands on her chest.

“What?” He narrowed his eyes.

“You see” Her tone was dull, uninterested, and she walked the length of the narrow space of her house. “I don’t know what you are, alien, god or whatever, and frankly, I don’t care. Because I just looked you up on this place called the internet, where you have all sorts of information in this cyberspace-”

“I know what that is” He snapped. 

“Right” The mortal sighed and dropped her hands and continued. “So like I was saying, I read about you, Loki the god of...whatever, and this is the results I got”

She walked across the room to the device that she’d used, picked it up and held it up before him. There was an image of himself from a couple of days ago, and an article about everything that happened in New York. Loki opened his mouth to respond, and then closed again. He realised, at that point, everything was out in the open. He couldn’t have avoided it anyway. He’d heard they say, it was a small world after all.

Loki stepped away from her, feeling compelled to summon his daggers into his hands. Truthfully, he did not want to use any of his powers over her; he didn’t know where the Tesseract was, and he was in a place he hadn’t known in his life time. He assumed he’d been here before, but the only  _ Soul  _ that he knew existed in the form of a stone. She, the mortal, was the only hope he had for now to find him a lead. But if that comes down to it, then…

“You’re a fugitive, a murderer, a war criminal” She went on, spite in her tone. “You’ve killed more than one hundred people in just a few days, brought an alien army and destroyed an entire city” looking all haughty and proud of her finding, the mortal moved away. “And now you’d think that I’d want to have anything to do with you?”

“You do not have to do anything with me” Loki replied, turning back to her. She was just half the size of him, and the way she tried to impose her authority over him was simply just pathetic and tiring.

“Good” smiled the mortal. “Then you’ll be going to the police” She replied and produced a mobile phone from the dining table, hiding under a pile of books.. She then proceeded to dial, only the sound of the phone echoing in the room. Loki wasn’t sure if she was doing this for real. Even if it wasn’t, he did not have the time for it. Loki had tried his best to suppress his abilities from resurfacing. At that moment, however, it was inevitable. He wanted her to yield to his words, and for that he had to do what needed to be done.

Loki lifted his arm and just flicked a hand at her direction. It was no hard work, he just had to set his mind onto it, and soon, with a scream of hers, the device flew from her hand, crashed against the wall behind her in such a haste that it snapped into fragments and fell on the floor. 

“Hah! What the hell!” The mortal yelled in perhaps her own language. Funny that he understood her. He understood most mortal languages, anyway. He had somehow instilled fear in her eyes with that simple action, and somehow it just proved to the claim that she’d made just a couple of minutes ago. A fugitive, a criminal. But he’d never even begin to explain the truth to her, and he didn’t believe that she’d actually understand. It was why he needed the tesseract now; to find it, wield it, and transport across the universe so that he wouldn’t have to deal with another human again.

Loki just shrugged, and his heavy armour tinkled as he leaned against the counter behind him. her house was impossibly small, and she lived with another smaller, fluffier earthling. One he supposed they called a cat. How on earth did she breath and live in this place? It was suffocating.

The mortal had reached for a knife, in fact two, and held them both in her hands. “Get out of my house, I’m not helping you”

Loki didn’t budge an inch. He fidgeted with his fingers. “I did not ask for your help”

“Then why are you here-,”

“Yet” He raised his eyes. “Yet. As I haven't figured out what I must do next, myself”

The mortal held out her two unequal shaped knives in front of her like shields, “I don’t care, just leave”

Loki was quiet for a moment, contemplating his options. There were hundreds of things he could do. Merely disguise himself, perhaps, mingle with the crowd and travel through cities and towns until that brought him far enough. He could be a part of their world, their community, observe their being and livelihood, simply disappear into the world until he had accumulated enough knowledge and power in his hands, just enough to take rule over them, bring them under his reign. But then deep inside, Loki knew that it wasn’t what he needed to be.

 He could still disguise himself, but he just wouldn't know where to go in search of the Tesseract. His suspicion was that there was indeed a stronger outer force that held back its power, blocked and limited its energy; otherwise he would have felt it miles away. Or perhaps it was not in a distance that he could feel or summon; but lost in this vast world just as he was. His options, as it happened, were out of question.

“Didn’t you even hear what I said?” Momo exclaimed, her voice so loud and intolerable that Loki contemplated the benefits of sending his dagger across the room.

“I can’t leave” He said, meeting her eyes, and he held her gaze for a moment too long. She just looked mystified for a moment, and he turned away. “I don’t have a place to go to”

_ Or the ability to go, not at least to where I wanted to go. _

“Absolutely not my problem” Said the mortal, the knives held before her yet again. “You can stay with the police for the day, and go to your alien planet or whatever later on...just-just leave me alone”

Loki took offence in her words, as he always would. Had she not realised just what exactly she had in front of her? “I’m not an alien, I’m a God!” He exclaimed loudly in response, forcing her to lower the knives. There was complete silence for a moment, except for the subtlest sounds of their breath. 

“A god” Momo reiterated then, menace in her voice. “ _ A god? a GOD? _ Well I don’t know what  _ gods _ were in your place but here on earth, we  _ worship _ gods. Gods give us a safe haven and a spiritual comfort, gods granted wishes and cherished our hopes. God’s  _ protected _ people, not kill them away in two days!”

Loki felt his resentment surging inside him. Things wouldn’t go too well would he let his anger take over. He took a deep breath, just in hopes that it would calm him, even for a mere second. “Perhaps…” He started slowly, his eyes lowered, and finally looked up at her. “Perhaps what happened was truly not what I meant” He said, his thoughts returning to New York, his first real encounter with Midgardians as a possible ruler and a god. He thought about ‘The other’ and his conquest. It all sounded pathetic, if anything. 

“It doesn’t change anything, now does it?” Went on the mortal in her same spiteful tone. “You’ve killed people, and that doesn’t go away”

Even if he wanted it to, Loki knew that yes, it didn’t. But then again there was no rule without war; and causality in war was inevitable. Yet, the fact that he’d killed so many had remained imprinted in his mind since then. Thor kept pointing out to him that war was not the path for benevolent ruling. But what other ways there could be, if the midgardians simply refuse to subjugate to him? It’s been how Odin had brought the nine realms together, it's how any kind would bring their worlds together. Authority, for him, could not be achieved without war.

Yet, for now, he wouldn’t let that past resurface. Things were different now, even the slightest. The pain, the fear, the vengeance was no longer there to hold him down to earth. All he wanted, for now was to escape from everything. Avoid returning to Asgard, no matter how much he sought after home, avoid Midgard, and most of all, avoid returning to The Other at all cost, even if that meant he had to run from one realm to the other for the rest of his life.

But only, he hadn’t the Tesseract. Without the tesseract, he would be lost.

“I’m aware” He replied calmly and met her eyes. “And believe me, I do not want to be here either, but-,”

“But what?”

Loki hated being interrupted, but for now he decided not to point that out. He let out a sigh and remained quiet.

“Well, whatever it is, like said, not my business” replied the mortal. “So just leave, leave me alone. I won’t go into all that trouble of handing you to the police. Just- just go away…” She let out a heavy sigh. “I just don’t need to be a part of it”

“I can’t” He repeated exasperatedly.

“And why not?” She yelled back. “You came here fine, through a hole in the sky or whatever”

“Because I don’t have it with me anymore,” he replied tiredly. “The tesseract”

Something seemed to shift in her eyes, and would he read her mind (Which of course, he wouldn’t, unless he wanted to further scare her away) he’d have learned that she’d indeed read about it on the ‘Internet’ just now.

“The cosmic cube” she said.

“Yes that”

The mortal stared at him for a moment, and all of a sudden she pushed past him, right across the small confines of the house and out the door. He waited for a moment, half expecting her to walk back in with the tesseract in hand, and when she didn’t, he followed after her. He found her moving about the vast expanse outside, eyes narrowed and seemingly searching. She indeed didn’t seem to know what it was or have any idea of the unlimited power that it possessed.

“It’s not here” He called out, stopping her. “It’s nowhere. if it was, I would feel it”

The mortal stood up straight, staring at him.

“I need to find it”

She seemed to mull it through. “But you’re a  _ god _ . You should be able to find it”

“Well I tried, but I can’t feel it”

Ignoring him, she walked over to the ledge and looked down from where they stood. He wasn’t sure what she was seeing there, but he was certain that it wasn’t the cosmic cube. Then as she moved back, she ended up hitting the large metal piece that had broken and fallen to the floor, perhaps by the impact of his arrival. She kicked it once again, this time purposefully, and let out a groan 

“Jesus christ!”

Loki raised his brows. Mortals were strange, really. “Isn’t that your god?”

“ _ A _ god” She corrected him distractedly.

“And you just swore by his name”

She glanced up at him and let out a sigh. “Oh shut up” She said and reached for the metal dish on the floor. “You know, just this afternoon I was trying to fix Missus Lee’s stupid satellite dish because I promised her that in exchange for paying the rent late. I want to pay the rent late because I have no money to pay the rent and I have no money because I have a hundred million things to do and I just don’t earn enough with the jobs that I’m doing…”

As she rambled, she picked up piece by piece of the discarded metal device on the floor. And while she continued, he scrutinized her. A fixer, it struck to him. The tools, the items in her hands implied that she was good at fixing things. She had nimble hands, this mortal, and she was rather good with them. And she was intelligent. She caught up with things quite hastily, and she was strong in her own ways. Loki couldn’t make his own way through this, in a place unknown on a quest he knew no beginning nor end of. He needed an accomplice, and for now she would be a perfect fit.

“...Life isn’t exactly easy for me” The woman went on, her voice so loud and being carried away in the wind. “...I need to get back to work and earn and live, and honestly a mad man who had destroyed an entire city and accidentally landed on my rooftop is the last thing I need. I need stability, I need support, I need-,”

Loki had had enough of her, really. He wondered if he could put the muzzle from earlier over her mouth. As she talked, she tried to fix the dish that had broken. And it seemed to be the root and cause of all her problems. Loki sighed and made his way towards her.

“Move”

“What do you want now? I’m trying to-,” Protested the mortal, but he heeded her no attention. He raised a hand towards what’s only a measly attached satellite dish, and with just one flick, everything came together and the dish fixed itself, good as new.

“Oh” The mortal blinked. Loki moved around her, leaned against the short wall and clasped his hands together. “I have a bargain for you” He said.

She gaped at him for a second, mystified, and so he just continued. “You see, without the tesseract it’s impossible for me to travel back to my time. Its the gateway to all cosmic realms, to travel through space and time; and if I were to leave your planet, I must wield it, and if I must, I should find it”

He paused there, waiting for the mortal to say something, but when she didn’t, he just continued. It wasn’t like he was going to leave her space for choice anyway. “The tesseract has power, unlimited power, and would it land in the wrong hands, its sheer energy could possibly wipe off the entire human population. I’m offering you only a great quest in the name of humanity” He stood before her, gestured between her and himself as he continued. “You and I, us together could possibly save the earth, Mortal. and I assure you, the protection over humanity can be restored”

He went quiet afterwards, and for a moment it was just utter silence, the mortal, appearing confused, seemed to be absorbing the essence of his words; It was a good negotiation, he could proudly admit. Never in his life had he thought he would offer to protect humanity, and although he did not truly intend to protect them (What business was it of his, if he did no longer wished to rule over them?) it almost felt like his opportunity of redemption. Saving humanity in exchange of the Tesseract rather than destroying them. He could indeed seek to be redeemed of his actions, even though he wouldn’t be forgiven.

“I…” she started, looked at the satellite dish and then his hands. “You have super powers” She pointed out to him, completely unrelated to his quest, all as if it just occurred to her. 

Loki shrugged. “You could say I’m a sorcerer”

“You’re dangerous” She replied, ignoring him. “You just broke my phone in there; it split to smithereens!”  Loki pursed his lips, not bothering to form a response. He wasn’t  _ sure _ how to respond to that. He couldn’t exactly deny it, given that he’d shown that side of his to her, just like she said. 

“You’re evil. You wanted to destroy us the first place” She continued, her eyes cold and distant. Loki opened his mouth and closed again. Then he sighed. “Well, things are different now”

It didn’t seem like there was any stopping to her spiteful words.

“I’m not very religious, but I trust gods to  _ protect _ us; but here you are, bargaining with a human, putting me and all of us in danger”

“I am not one of your gods” Loki replied. “And as far as I’m concerned, my bargain  _ does _ involve protection”

“I don’t trust you; your name says itself, God of Mischief…” She narrowed her eyes at him. and made two strides towards him; stopping just inches away. “You must have other motives up your sleeve. You’d say that you intend to save the planet. But I’m pretty sure that’s not what you have in mind”

“Well, that-,”

“I’ll accept it, your bargain, still” She said all of a sudden, interrupting him, and folded her arms over her chest. Loki dropped his own in response, quite surprised. “Oh…”

“I’ll accept it, not because I wish to help you,  _ god _ no but because I don’t trust you, and because I’m a better humanitarian than you, as a god, could ever be”

Loki certainly didn’t like the sound of it, but he couldn’t argue with that either; not while he’s responsible of destroying an entire city. The circumstances could have been different, circumstances that she wouldn’t have to know. But for now, he would accept it. It was better than nothing, to have a small but a determined human taking his side. He’d take this chance and redeem himself, show it to humans that he wasn’t as bad as they’d thought he would be. He’d step out of the dark shadow he’d lived in for the longest part of his life; he’d be his own person, and most importantly he’d show it to Odin that he would and could be a better king than Odin himself could ever be.

“Good” Loki said and gave her a smile. If they were going to save the earth together, they might as well be equal. Loki took a step forward, and all his green and golden armour was replaced by midgardian attire, clothes that made him look far less intimidating and more conspicuous. But the mortal, who just stared at him, her mouth ajar, seemed to be convinced otherwise.

“D-did you just-?” She muttered, gestured at him as she stepped further and further away. He just shrugged, not responding, not verbally at least. He couldn’t have expected anything less. There was no point explaining each and everything, at least, not now. She stared at him for a moment too long and turned away. “Oh god, I must be crazy” She said in her own language and strode off back into her house. Loki couldn’t help that smile on his lips.  _ What a silly human, not knowing who she had standing in her own home. A god.  _


	4. 3: In the name of humanity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I'm not entirely familiar with most attributes relating to this story so if I had gone wrong in anything, please do let me know. I tried my best to recreate a character that we've all known and loved. It wasn't easy.

By birth, I was buddhist. I had never been the most religious person still, as neither had been my father. My mother passed away when I was just eight years old, an incident both I and my father wouldn’t talk about, and since it’s mother who’d been more into religion than my father, he didn’t exactly bother since her passing. He didn’t believe in comfort and spiritual support that religion was said to provide. I wouldn’t blame him, given everything that he’d been through. What he used to tell me was that everything in life was a choice. I didn’t understand this first; back then when he’d told me this, I was still too young to understand something so profound. As I grew older, I was beginning to gradually see the sense of his words. There was not always a choice; that wasn’t what he meant, really. But when we did, it was a quest about making the right one. I had made plenty of wrong decisions, and they have led me in the wrong paths. It’s then that I realised it,I had been given the right of choice; I have always had it with me. Where I had gone wrong, however, was believing that I didn’t; thinking that it was how things were supposed to be. And in most cases, I was very, very wrong.

There was this one thing I vaguely remember from my political class. It was a theory or the other, I couldn’t remember what. It was about greater good for a greater number; about sacrifice. The story was this. There was a man fixing a broken rail track on which a train full of people was coming forth. The choice was between the man on the tracks and the train full of people. The choice was obvious, they said. Would the man lie across the train tracks, the train would stop, saving the lives of the people in the train, but would he move away, a train full of people would be in danger. The man could sacrifice himself to save hundreds of lives, or he could just save himself as well.

The question was, however, how hard this choice could be?

Very easy, I would say. I’ve made a negotiation with a dangerous, murderous mythical god, a god who had super powers and travelled across the universe with a glass box full of unlimited cosmic energy. Any wrong move could end up killing me. And any wrong move could wipe humanity off the planet too. I’ve made that choice, believing that I had the strength and the energy to take a stand, for my people, for myself. I wouldn’t say that there was no possibility of failure. This was a man who’d killed eighty people in two days. But at least, I’d die trying. And it wasn’t much of a difficult choice to make.

As he said, what he needed first to locate the cosmic cube was someone who could track its cosmic energy. He couldn’t think of anyone except Professor Selvig and apparently a certain ‘Stark’ and a Monster, as he said, who could do it well. They had a facility there, where they were, from which allowed them to do this; but for now it was too far. So the option we had was to search for an astrophysicist in Seoul (Or Soul, and it's sort of growing on me) itself, an alternative for the time being. There weren’t many astrophysicists, so to say; except for the ones involved in academics. Not many related researches were conducted in Seoul, and except for those who resided there, went and actually involved in similar research, all we had here now were basically academics who lacked expertise, compared to Professor Selvig or Stark or perhaps even the monster. But for now, we had to do.

I couldn’t think of a better academic than one of the physicists at Kyunghee university. It’s around where I lived, and although it's not where I studied in, it is indeed the place that my all-time boy crush went to. I've been there a couple of times, especially to make deliveries to the dormitory and occasionally stare at my crush while people counted their money. It was a beautiful place, the university. Especially in the time of early spring. The rain had ceased by the time we went there the next morning; slightly warm and sunny out. We had to take the bus to get there, which was a strange experience in itself. As it happened, back in his world, people didn’t have public transport. They were all inherently very strong, he said; and would rather walk if they weren’t flying. So sitting there in a cramped seat, crouched down as he was impossibly tall, Loki didn’t look like he’s exactly having the time of his life.

Loki had changed into more of ‘human’ attire in his own special way, and he claimed it was less intimidating although in my honest opinion, the suit, tie and scarf combo that he had changed into didn’t exactly make the cut. Heads turned and eyes scanned whenever he passed by, him glaring back at them as if the mere act of noticing him in the crowd was offending him. It was even stranger for me to be walking alongside with him. Me and my father were inherently small in size, and standing beside his gigantic stature, I quite felt like a minion. I barely reached past his chest. I suppose what they said about gods was true. But still, he was good company. We talked as we walked, mostly him having an opinion on just about everything that caught his eye.

The bus to Kyunghee stopped inside the University premises itself. During the bus ride, Loki didn’t say a word. Nothing had ever looked more out of place than he did in the crowded public bus, as if he’d never traveled seated in a vessel full of strangers. He just stared ahead, hands clasped together, his face unreadable. The moment we got down, however, he looked at me and asked; “How do you mortals live like this?”

Honestly, I wished I had an answer to that. But he was right, I had to give him that.

I was particularly looking forward for this trip as I would always be. There wasn’t anybody else that I knew at Kyunghee, but the whole idea of seeing Jason again was exciting. I wasn’t sure if our feelings were mutual, Jason’s and mine. But they didn’t have to be. It was comfortable, as long as my feelings were unrequited. I’d rather look at him from a far, given that I hardly reached his possible standards in the opposite sex. 

“We’ve been walking for the past ten minutes, I do not see any progress to my search” Loki said to me as we climbed up the slope. We were climbing up the slope to the infamous Hall of Peace, the beautiful replica of Notre Dame de Paris standing magnificently in the white light of the spring. There were cherry blossoms scattered about the path we took. It was breathtaking, really. And the sweet scent of the flowers was wafting around in the breeze. The ambiance was amiable, people of every sort keeping us in company with their loud and cheerful chatter. But still the odd pair walking along, one showing absolutely no interest in the beauty around us probably struck too odd to everyone of them.

“We’re going to see Professor Yoon, he’s a lecturer in Astronomy here” I informed Loki and stopped in front of the Hall of Peace, admiring its beauty. Loki was just uninterested; he took a brief glance up at it and turned to me. “Does it mean he expertises in Astronomy?” He clarified.

“That’s just about it”

Loki frowned. “But that’s different from Astrophysics”

I ignored him, all because I hadn’t an answer to that.

And then in a distance, I saw him. Jason Kang was making his way towards me, a hand raised in the air, his hair flying in the breeze. Even from a distance, he looked breathtaking. I could see the brilliance of his smile, even to where I stood.

“Miyawaki, hey!” He greeted me, his smile so bright, his eyes turning to crescent moons, and my heart skipped a few beats. Jason always called me by my surname, as I did by his. It was this small friendly thing we had going on between us.

I met Jason Kang a few months ago upon my trip to Seoul. He was born and raised in Canada, almost as how I’d been, except for the ‘born’ part, and we made quick acquaintanceship upon the similarities in our lives. Despite being different by origin, there wasn’t much that set us apart. While I returned to Korea to study music, however, Jason had returned home to study Physics in his own country, in the comfort of where he loved.

“Hello Kang!” I greeted back and he enfolded me in an awkward hug. We haven’t frequently met in similar circumstances to this. The last few times it was when I visited their dorms delivering their dinner in my evening job.

Jason pulled away from me and looked up at Loki who just stood there, cold and expressionless, certainly not enjoying the public display of affection. 

“Oh um, this is-,” I wasn’t sure what to say as I certainly didn’t wish to admit that i’ve somehow acquainted a possible god. “ _ Stark _ ” I said what came to my mind. I felt Loki looking at me, his eyes burning holes to my skull. He was not going to be happy with it, I was certain. But there was no way I would admit his name. It just sounded too unconventional, and Jason would think I was crazy.

“ _ Doctor _ ...Stark” I continued, giving him my most convincing smile.

Jason made a confused face; however it soon changed into a bright smile as he held a hand out at Loki. “Pleasure meeting you...Doctor Stark” Loki stared down at his hand, yet again as if it was physically offending him. I nudged him surreptitiously, and he took it, appearing as stiff as ever.

“Stark...well, by any chance are you related to the Starks, as in the genius weapon developers?”

Loki’s face visibly darkened. I’ve most definitely stepped over a line there. “No” He said.

Jason shrugged. “Well, I hope so too” he turned to face me. “So, I talked to professor Yoon this morning…”

  
  


Jason led us through the labyrinth of alleys and corridors inside the campus, and as he did, he and I conversed, sharing pleasantries and catching up on our lives. Loki, on the other hand was far more interested in his surroundings than he did before, looking at everything that he passed by with inquisitive eyes. I was particularly alert of how he looked at people. It was said in what I read about him that he’d killed just eighty ‘armed’ people in two days upon arrival. The reports say that he carried a sharp scepter with him, tyrannically ordered patrons of an evening party in Germany to surrender to him, threatening to kill those who didn’t. If anything, Loki didn’t sound like a god to me. And every second I passed in his company, I wondered if he’d summon his scepter or whatever and kill me. Now that I’ve already conceded to his orders, he was just one step away from killing me away. 

Jason brought us to a lab, by the looks of it focused more on chemicals and whatnot than anything to do with cosmic energy. There was an older man walking about in a lab coat, safety glasses up on his wrinkled forehead as he helped a pair of studious girls with a Bunsen burner. Jason gestured us to wait outside and knocked on the door.

“Ah Kang” He called in an unexpectedly kind tone, a smile on his lips.

“Sir, the friends of mine that I mentioned are here to see you”

The professor looked at the two of us, took in the sight of Loki and then glanced at me. 

“I’m in a class. If you could give me ten minutes-,” He said apologetically, Jason nodded, so did I. We both bowed apologetically and Jason closed the door behind him. He led us to a waiting area which had plastic chairs and students lounging idlically, phones in their hands. They served us with uninterested glances, took a good look at Loki and turned away upon seeing his unfriendly frown. The three of us sat down, and Jason turned to me.

“So, I didn’t know you were interested in Astronomy, Miyawaki” He addressed me in Korean, perhaps in hopes that Loki wouldn’t eavesdrop into our conversations. And I hoped so too. Every second I spent with Jason was intimate for me. I treasured them with life; just like I did his smile, the sound of his laughter, the sweet musky scent he had…

“Well, I wouldn’t say I wasn’t” I lied despite my obvious disinterest. I wanted to impress him, appear smart and compelling, to show that perhaps I was in the process of reaching his impossibly high standards. 

“That’s interesting” He smiled. Then he glanced at Loki who was staring ahead, his mind elsewhere, possibly planning murder. “So um…” Jason moved closer. “Your friend...is he really not related to the weapon manufacturers?”

I frowned. I knew I shouldn’t have said that name. It didn’t strike to me at that time what the name really referenced too. But I suppose it's too late. “I don’t suppose so” I pursed my lips. “Because he’s Russian” Then I added.

“Oh…” Jason took a suspicious glance at him. “Well, the Starks develop weapons...they would be interested in astrophysics and stuff, although I’m pretty sure they won’t come here to talk about that” He made an awkward laugh, and I decided not to comment on that.

“Well, that aside, how are you…?” Jason changed the course of the conversation, and for the next few minutes we settled back into our comfortable conversations. we continued on for a while as Loki impatiently fidgeted next to me (He did that a lot, for a god) after a while then, the two girls from the lab emerged from the corridor, and Professor Yoon followed after.

“Kang, allow them to my office, would you?”

 

From what I’ve read and understood, the tesseract contained an unlimited amount of energy, powerful enough to transmit across the universe, transport its wielder through space and time, allows forseeing the future and could be absolutely menacing and devastating would it fall into the wrong hands. The reading I did about the tesseract gave me much insight to Loki’s origin as well. Getting him to speak of himself was harder than convincing Missus Lee to lower the rent of my house. He was very closed and mysterious, as would an intimidating god would be. So the entire night after I met him, as I couldn’t possibly sleep with the knowledge of a first degree mass murderer being in the vicinity, I read up about him. As it happened, he was not a god of any mythology I was familiar with, and it was quite exciting. The norse mythology was in fact related to the myths and believes that was followed by the North Germans following the christianization of Scandinavia. The most powerful of the Norse gods was Odin, the allfather of all gods, and Loki was his adopted son while Thor, his older brother was the next to the throne in the bloodline. Although it didn’t say much, I figured the reason why Loki was so distant and cold and well, basically killed a lot of people and tried to take over the world. I could understand his sentiments, and perhaps could try to relate to it; but even if I wasn’t to the throne and even if I did end up finding I was adopted, I didn’t think I’d actually go to the extent that he did. Well, I suppose gods were most certainly quite distinct from humans in every other aspect.

The tesseract was originally from their realm, and was later brought to earth to be guarded by Odin. There wasn’t a lot upon its history nor its powers; but there was one research paper which I located from the dark side of the internet, and claimed that it was so powerful that it could be used to just about anything related to destruction; the paper was focusing mostly on the creation of weapons of mass destruction, or nuclear powered weapons. But only, these weapons would not be nuclear powered. They’d have something stronger; the power of all cosmic worlds combined. I hated to think about this possibility. The word was that Loki had opened a wormhole in the sky using the tesseract, granting access to an army of dangerous aliens who destroyed the earth. But that was just one thing that the cosmic cube could possibly do. Seeing as to what kind of power it held, yes, Loki was right. It falling into the wrong person’s hands could quite literally wipe off the entire human race. 

When we approached Professor Yoon, both Loki and I decided its for the best that we didn’t disclose anything related to the tesseract. The plan was to say that he wished to create a device which enables to trace the low level gamma radiation that the cube emitted when the cube is ‘alive’, Loki assuming that it was as it had been when he’d last wielded it. I wasn’t sure what other purpose there was, to trace gamma radiation; not that I was particularly interested. Only that there was no way out of it if we were questioned. I sure did hope Loki had a plan up his sleeves.

Jason gestured us towards the corridor which led us to the professor's office and we had to make the rest of the way on our own. I waved him goodbye and told him we’d see him again. As we took the next corner, Loki turned towards me, amusement eminent in his eyes.

He leaned over then, and his warm breath brushed past my ear. “You’re smitten”

I pulled back, baffled by the proximity and saw him giving me an amused smile. I knew what he was talking about. But still i decided to act undeterred. I’d seen how cool and conceited he reacted when confronted. I would be the same.

“Let go, he will break your heart” He then said. 

I halted, mouth agape and ever ready to defend the love of my life, but only then did I realise that we were at the end of the corridor, and the office door was open; professor Yoon was waiting inside.

  
  
  


I allowed Loki to do most of the talking, which he did in all his elegant ways. It was almost hypnotising, listening to him speak of sciences and wonders that I’d never begin to understand. Even Professor Yoon appeared apt by his tone that he remained completely quiet as Loki revealed his plans. Like said, he admitted to creating a device which tracks gamma rays, emitted from which, to what purpose, he most skillfully keeping out. Professor Yoon nodded along, without once interrupting. It took me a moment to realise, as someone who didn’t understand what he speaks of, that he indeed did purposefully mean to hypnotise the listeners by his charms. His charms were lethal, if anything. A powerful prince, the god of mischief. Had I understood a single thing that Loki said, perhaps, I would have been the same too; be manipulated and surrender to his words.

At the end of his account, Professor Yoon let out a sigh and clasped his hands together. He gazed at Loki for a moment, appearing dazed for a while, then pursed his lips.

“Well, Doctor...Stark, I must say that’s quite impressive. A device to track gamma radiation. But I must admit that at the moment my faculty just lack...resources. We don’t have that amount of technology available here, nor the expertise, I would say. My knowledge is mostly limited to astronomy and if anything, theoretical” He raised his hands, gesturing apologetically. “I’m afraid I probably wouldn’t be of help”

Loki moved forward in his seat, seemingly impatient, and it was almost by instinct that I reached over and grasped his coat under the table. It felt soft to the touch. Cashmere. But unworldly.

“Is there anyone who could be of help, anyone with the relevant expertise?” Loki pushed on, appearing to keep calm.

Professor Yoon tilted his head. “Like said, that sort of technology is beyond our capabilities” 

An exasperated sigh escaped Loki’s lips. “It isn’t a matter of resources here, Professor, the device  _ need _ to be  _ built _ . There is a reason and a purpose to my entreaty, otherwise I wouldn’t have approached you” 

“You’re quite eloquent with your words, aren’t you?”

Loki stared at the other for a moment, then sat back in his seat, quiet.

Professor Yoon leaned forward across the table, his hands clasped before him. “This is a university, Mister Stark. And here what we focus on is what’s relevant and what’s relevant to the betterment of the people of this country. I’m really sorry for not being of help, but perhaps what you search for would be available in places where tracing gamma rays is more important than the people of their country”

Loki’s hands clenched. I could see the anger radiating from him, in his blue eyes; dancing flames of rage. I grasped even tightly onto his coat and just stared at them, feeling hopeless and equally baffled by the intensity of the mere exchange of their strong gazes. Loki certainly meant business; but so did Professor Yoon. It was evident that the previous charm that Professor Yoon had been gripped by was gone. And it's the point I realised I should intervene.

“Thank you for your time and patience, Professor Yoon” I replied, this time in Korean in hopes that hearing the familiarity in one of our tones would help to subside whatever the negative energy that had formed between us. This seemed to do the trick that professor Yoon finally ripped his gaze off from Loki and turned to me. 

“That was not a problem at all” He said. But then, it was subtle, there was a small shift in his gaze and his tone. He wasn’t entirely honest. He was doubting us. There was a hint of suspicion. “Tell your friend that this isn’t the country or the place for him. His plans have no conviction. It’s unclear what he wants to achieve” 

I almost replied that he indeed did, and that was to save the human race from a potentially dangerous galactic object. But then I also knew that it wouldn’t change anything.

I glanced over at Loki, and he was burning with rage, staring at professor Yoon. I was pretty sure that he understood not a word of what Professor Yoon said, but the look in his eyes seemed to say otherwise.

“Conviction?” Loki suddenly spluttered, and it took me a while to realise it. He was speaking in Korean.  _ Korean!  _ Professor Yoon seemed equally baffled as I was, completely paralised to form a coherent word in response. “It isn’t I who lack conviction. Human race is on the brink of danger, all for the sheer ignorance and negligence that you have. Perhaps it might appear that tracing gamma rays or whatnot is the last of your interests. But soon that time would be gone. Maybe it’s time for you to think otherwise”

His hand reached for mine that was grasping onto his jacket, which he slapped away. I recoiled, still startled by his sudden revelation and the ability to respond equally eloquently in a language ,which we’d assumed unfamiliar to him, in the same manner he had in perhaps his own. I guess I’d always known I had to expect the unexpected had I befriended a possibly five hundred year old norse god. But knowing my language, not just but so eloquently had not been in my expectations. He climbed up on his feet and strode across the room to the door. I promptly followed after him, not forgetting to bow apologetically at the professor. It was only as I reached the door myself that the professor awakened his voice himself, yet again in Korean, as he’d realise there was no barrier in communication. 

“Why, and what are you trying to trace with this device, doctor Stark? What is the  _ reason _ and the  _ purpose _ for your entreaty?”

Loki was quiet as he grasped onto the door handle for a split of a minute. Then that smile of an actual murderer appeared on his lips. “I wouldn’t say. But it certainly will not be for the betterment of your people”

Professor Yoon’s mouth fell agape, and Loki pulled open the door, allowing us to the empty corridor. 

“Farewell, Professor Yoon. Thank you for your cooperation”

  
  


Loki had the nicest long legs, I had to say. And they worked so fast that I had to break a sweat to keep up with his pace. He was still seemingly angry after the incident in the office, his plans going to naught and I was honestly regretful that it did. But I was even more baffled by what I realised next. For someone who’d brought an alien army to destroy and enslave the human race under his reign, he was strangely too passionate about actually saving it. He had once tried to kill us with the power of the tesseract, and now suddenly, he was gripped with the determination to save them. Loki seemed to be full of surprises; more like the god of secrets to me. His ability to fluently speak in another language was the last of my worries now. But still that would be the first one I’d address.  _ One step at a time _ .

“Wait, wait. Hold on” I gasped as we approached the hallway. There were a few students scattered about, but no Jason in sight. For the first time, I was actually thankful. If he were, he would have been the first one to victimise to Loki’s rage.

Loki halted in his stride and turned around, his eyes dark and menacing. “What?” He shrilled. I looked down at how his fists were clenched, then I took a deep breath.

“First you need to calm down” I said.

“You failed me and now ask me to calm down?” He growled under his breath.

“Okay, I understand-,”

Before I could finish it, he took off on his long strides. I jogged after him, my tiny legs straining to keep up. “I have a million questions” I breathed out.

“Now is not the time”

“I’ll ask just one”

He remained quiet, his jaw set and eyes staring ahead.

“How come you know Korean? I thought you’ve never been here”

“Didn’t say I’ve never been. When I did, men used to wear tunics and ride horses here” He replied distractedly. 

I mulled it over, all the while struggling to match his pace. “So that was in the Joseon era?”

Mind you, I already knew that norse gods lived for long upon what I’ve read, but I hadn’t expected that information, really. He ignored me, still strolling fast, and we’ve somehow approached a staircase, which he climbed down even faster. It was his anger that kept him at this pace; I figured., perhaps trying to let off his steam. I wondered when he got enraged in his usual habitat if he attempted to murder those who were the cause of his rage. 

“You know, you have serious anger management issues” I informed him. 

“No I do not” He replied, still skipping down the stairs, and by that point, I was beat.

“Then at least” I panted, then stopped, grasping onto the railing. “Let’s take a break”

Loki most certainly didn’t share my thought. “We can’t” He said, pausing for just a second. I looked up at him, as I felt that shift in his tone. Then I followed his gaze, he was looking past us. I hadn’t realised it before, it had somehow passed my muddled up mind. There was a person, no, two people, seemingly security, running down the corridor in our direction.

“Uh-oh” I took off in a run and grasped Loki by his sleeve, a silly attempt of urging him while knowing too well the unnecessity of it. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Thought you knew” He muttered, and down the stairs, we were half climbing and half running. We were in a rather compromised position. We couldn’t alert the surrounding crowd by taking off in a run, that would create more enemies who’d follow after. The professor must have grown suspicious, especially after the very unusually compassionate speech given by Loki questioning their role in protecting humanity. I was assuming that this was only the start. In a moment, there would be police cars pulling in, and then we’d be arrested. Loki would probably pull himself out of it, leaving me stranded after having negotiated with a possible inter galactic criminal, my life in ruins.

“This is not good, not good at all,” I said, looking behind me. We were now aimlessly encircling the campus, walking random corridors and stairs that led us nowhere. We arrived at the gardens, the sun out brightly and the Hall of Peace appearing magnificent than ever before. Somehow we’ve appeared from behind it, and there was something going on in it, something huge which involved lots of spectators, and even worse, a heavy load of guards.

“Well shit” I said. And from afar, I could see a pair of guards in blue, campus guards who were different from those at the Hall of peace somehow alerting those guarding the hall. There were way too many, and we couldn’t possibly outrun them; unless we actually took off running, garnering everyone’s attention.

“You know what? I think we’re going to get arrested” I informed Loki. He was ignoring me, acutely alert of his surroundings and he was seemingly calculating his next move. And then he took off in a sprint to the opposite direction, further towards the more hidden part behind the Hall of Peace. We’ve avoided the guards somehow, but it was just a matter of time. And for now, we were trapped. I looked up at Loki for an answer, scanning his face. He looked determined, staring back at me in return. And his eyes, bluer than ever under the warm spring sun, seemed to troubled and speculative.

Then there were voices behind us, far too close to grant us escape.

“Loki” I tried again, alerting him of our evident hopeless situation. But then, everything happened so fast.

“Come” Said Loki, not a command but so much as a growl, and suddenly before I could even register what was happening, his strong arm was around my waist, pulling me close against him. Surprised, my eyes fluttered close, my heart pounding in my throat for a reason I couldn’t exactly pinpoint. I was aware of his warmth, of his scent, of his hand upon my back. He held me so close that I couldn’t even find room to breath, my face crushed against his chest, and I could almost hear the beating of his heart.

“Hold on tight” He said, and I grasped firmly onto the soft cashmere of his coat and a bit of the silk of his scarf. It was strange, out of this world. It was nothing like I’ve ever felt before. There came cold, a strong wind that hit my exposed skin like icy sprints. There was a distinct shift in space and time, and a single movement. It was just a minute, or a second, I couldn’t tell; I was just too shocked to register that. 

And then, everything stopped. 

I opened my eyes, my face still pressed onto his chest. My hands still holding onto him as I was told to. It took me a while for my mind to adjust, and when I did, I realised, Loki was back in his godly form, and his hair was strangely floating in the wind. His head was lowered, eyes gazing into mine, a question in the depth of them and surprise. I pulled away at the same time as his arm dropped from me.

Then I took in the surroundings, and my hand reached out to steady myself.  _ Oh god _ .

I had travelled through space and time.


	5. 4: Human versus God.

Never had he ever, in the entirety of his life, did Loki imagine that he would create any amenable acquaintanceship with a human being, let alone share his powers with one. It occurred to him, the gravity of what he’d done, only upon their arrival on the rooftop with the Mortal in his arms, only when he realised that it was her eyes that he was gazing into, that it was her warmth that he felt. When he pulled away, he realised that he’d never felt more ashamed. He walked away from her, angered and to an extent stupefied. Not only had his plans of locating the tesseract gone to naught, he’d allowed himself to go off his natural state and save the life of a mortal who had been no help at all. Loki wanted to let off some steam, and that he did by stomping to the other end of the rooftop and back again, realising that he had nowhere to go and also he wouldn’t reveal any more of himself for the mortal to marvel at.

The mortal stood frozen to the spot, just where he left her, and the very sight of her angered him even more. She ruined it, all from the beginning; starting from giving him a name that insinuated too much, to associating that little friend of hers whom she seemed to be so smitten by. And worse of all was that he was helpless, he couldn’t even stab that sorry bastard in return.

Still, he needed to find the tesseract. Nothing’s more important than that at this moment. Any minute now, Heimdall would notify of his existence here, and Odin would send Thor rolling back to earth. He was pretty sure they were searching for him now, and would certainly learn that he’d, yet again, fallen somewhere on the earth. Thor, as always, would steal him of his chance to redeem for his sins, his chance to prove his worth. And soon, he would be dragged back to Asgard, yet again a prisoner in chains, yet again having stolen the tesseract for personal benefit. It was all going to go down to square one.

Perhaps, had he the scepter, he would have ‘expanded their minds’ to get to work for him again. But that was with the avengers, or quite possibly have gone with SHIELD. At the moment, he was utterly hopeless and was stuck with a woman whose voice was too loud for his ears. 

“Did we just fly?” She was asking him, perhaps finally having found her voice. Loki stopped pacing, as he had never heard anything more ridiculous, and looked over at her. “No” He replied. “And be quiet, I am trying to think”

“Be quiet? How can I? Knowing that you’re probably more dangerous than I thought?” She returned, and Loki let out a heavy sigh.  _ There it was again _ .

“I thought you agreed to this knowing all the dangers”

The mortal widened her eyes. “I thought it was just that...magic thing”

He rolled his eyes and moved away. Silly mortals. Perhaps they deserve to be attacked by armies of other realms for their insolent stupidity.

“You can move things, you can fly, you speak other languages, you can read minds, you can fix broken things, you can  _ break _ things and you go to other planets with a glass cube and killed more than a hundred people in three days” The mortal listed out as if to inform him.

“Thank you for letting me know” He said, and continued to pace.

“I feel like every minute I spend with you I find something new about you” She went on. “And frankly I don’t feel comfortable about it”

He stopped pacing for a moment, and stared at her. Loki knew for a fact that his gaze itself could possibly scare humans away.

“They say it's all a new experience” he replied after a while, strode towards her and stopped right in front of her. He looked right into her eyes, and certainly she was intimidated. She took a step back, and he took a step forward. She took two steps back, he followed; all until he had her cornered against the wall. Then he smiled, feeling quite satisfied by the way her eyes widened. “You know what else is a new experience?”

“Huh?” She visibly gulped. It felt strangely satisfying, seeing a mortal surrender, scared for their lives.

“I can hurt you in ways that you can’t imagine” He told her, leaning towards her as he did so that it would leave her helpless. “I can break you and slice you open, then watch you stain the world in crimson, bleeding out alive. And I would do so, slowly, intimately that you wouldn’t even realise that its pain or pleasure that you felt, not until your very...last...breath…”

At that point, she was trembling, nearly, and he took it the opportunity to entice her even more.

“You would be dying, mortal, helpless at my hands…”

The human gasped, a little sound, like of a dying deer. He moved even closer to her then, his lips almost brushing against the shell of her ear.

“You wouldn’t want that now, would you?” 

She shook her head.

“Good” He stepped away and smiled. “Then do as I say”

She nodded, and he continued to stare at her, in hope it would daunt her even more. She gazed back, her dark eyes shining, and as the gentle spring sun fell in her eyes, he realised with a pang, they were very brown, like pools of amber, and if anything; very much alive. For a moment, Loki thought, it might have been him who felt captivated despite him having her cornered to a wall. it was a strange thought, really. He wasn’t one to feel...sentiments. Yet, he somehow couldn’t stop thinking about that light in her eyes.

But then, there was a lowly growl he did not know came from where. He looked around, and then down at her. The mortal looked mortified, her brown eyes alert, and her lips pulled by a corner in an apologetic smile. He then knew where the sound came from. He looked down at her stomach, confused.

“I hadn’t eaten since morning” she replied to a question he hadn’t so much as wordeed out.

  
  


The mortal was right not to trust him, he had to admit himself. So when she told him to accompany her going down to get food, Loki had rolled his eyes, muttering that he wasn’t planning to kill anyone, yet still went along with her. He had to change back into human clothes, and when he did, she complained that he didn’t have to dress like he was going to have lunch with the queen. Loki had to remind her that she was no queen and that he was the royalty among the two; at which point she went quiet and they made it down the iron stairs. He’d rather jump off the ledge, if he was to be honest; it wasn’t a great height. But then he remembered that she was literally waiting for him to show more of his strengths and possibly find another reason to not work with nim. He had just threatened to cut her, so seeing him jump off a building and walk away was the last thing she needed.

Loki was considerate like that.

“So down here is where my land-lady, Missus Lee lives” The mortal explained as the two of them descended the iron steps. They were passing by a narrow doorway where clothes were hung out in the sun to dry. It was the first time in his life that he was seeing such a spectacle. He had to ask Mortal what the clothes were doing out on a rope as he passed them by that morning. “To dry” she told him, and when she did, she looked at him as if he’d said something ridiculous.

“Missus Lee doesn’t have any super powers...well, except for darting up the stairs. But she’s evidently more terrifying than you” She told him.

“This is the woman who said would die had she seen me” He reminded her.

The mortal shrugged. “we shouldn’t underestimate her strength”

 

The two of them finally came down to the alley way that led out to the street, and instead of walking forward like they did that morning, she took a turn to the left, and he followed. They came to a place which the mortals would call a ‘Grocery store’, where all the necessities were available to purchase conveniently for them all in exchange of monetary units. He looked up at the neon sign above and narrowed his eyes, his hands deep in his pockets. The mortal looked exhilarated, if anything; as if she’d forgotten everything that transpired the past few hours at the very thought of food.  _ Typical _ . Disappointed, all he could do was shake his head, staring after her as she skipped her way to the door.

As they stepped in, a bell above the door tingled. He barely passed underneath the door frame. It was as almost as tall as him. There was a meekly young man in a bright green coat, working at where they had the money counter. He looked up at the new arrivals, uninterested, and clocked in his sight. Loki hated when humans did this, looking up at him as if they had nothing better to do with themselves. But this boy was different as he just looked at him and went back to what he was doing.

Loki followed after the mortal as she walked through the aisles. And as she did, she was talking.

“Well, I don’t know what you gods eat. But we have noodles and buns and all that lot” she paused and straightened up, her arms laden with a number of different items, more than the amount she could handle. “Are you hungry?”

Loki shook his head. 

She continued down the aisle, unconsciously dropping things on her way; plastic packets of different sizes which said numerous things in their language. He stared after her as she went along, clumsy and excited, an absolutely hopeless of a specimen. He questioned himself if he would actually do good for her, help her, in this case, which was unlikely for him. She continued to drop her things, not even bothering to get one of those baskets at the entrance that they had kept for the customers’ dispense, and in the end he was forced to give up. He walked back to the entrance, grabbed one of those baskets, looked behind him if the boy was watching, and since he was not, he picked up the fallen goods with a flick of his fingers and they swiftly landed in the basket.

Loki found the mortal standing before what they called a refrigerator, which they use to store food items that need to remain cold (Loki did his necessary part of reading about Midgard), muttering to herself.

“I wouldn’t think alcohol the best idea” Loki muttered in her ear, and she yelped, startled, and everything in her arms dropped to the floor.

“Oh god, you scared me!”

“That, I am” He sighed and proceeded to lift everything off the floor without so much as moving a limb. She watched him, mouth agape. 

“Right” She breathed out in the end, turning back to the fridge. “Well, I’m just going to get a couple, because working with you makes me want to drink…” She grinned sheepishly and dropped a few glass bottles into the basket in his hands. “And thanks for getting this for me”

“I didn’t” He replied and left it by her feet on the floor.

She took good fifteen minutes of his precious time, idly walking through the aisles, looking for ways to spend the monetary units she probably didn’t have. Later on he found her by a shelf laden of completely unnecessary things in colors so vibrant that it was hard to tell if it was for consumption or decoration. And she was there, standing on her tiptoes, trying to reach a large bag of that particular condiment which laid on the top shelf. He watched her for a few minutes, unperturbed. But then he couldn’t just stand and bear watching her wasting his good time. He reached out, picked up the bag and dropped it into her basket. 

“Are we done yet?” He asked her.

“Yes, but I have to eat”

He widened his eyes. “Here?”

He had never heard of people sitting and eating in the markets. He had never been to one himself, but there were plenty in Asgard itself, and he was pretty sure people still bought their necessities and returned to their homes to eat as they pleased.

But in this  _ Soul _ place, everything was different; almost chaotic. A few minutes later, after the mortal bought everything in exchange of money, she led him to a line of plastic chairs placed rather strategically in front of a large glass panel, overlooking the streets. He sat down, exhausted, not physically but mentally, given the amount of time that they wasted. It took her another ten minutes to prepare her food, which she did with the water and all that went into it. Loki just sat and waited, watching the street before him as people passed by, feeling helpless than ever before. In the few times that he had come to Midgard, he had never idled around, wasting time. He was always doing something akin to his ultimate plan of world domination. He couldn’t believe how he came down to this moment where he sat in a meekly plastic chair, waiting for a human woman to prepare her food before they began their quest.

A few minutes later, the mortal returned, a piping hot cup of food in hand. He glanced over at Loki and then smiled, almost too delighted that she had the chance to eat.

“Are you sure you don’t want anything?” She asked him again as she sat down beside him.

“I’m wasting my time” He told her.

“No I’m eating, I need energy” She returned, her face reddened by the steam of her bowl. And the aroma that wafted around him was nothing that he’d felt before. It wasn’t appetizing, really. He just willed she would soon be done with it.

“Seriously, what do you gods eat?” She was asking him, her face misted by the steam of her bowl. “Do you eat at all?”

“Please eat fast” He told her as nicely as possible.

“Wait. This is hot”

The mortal reached for a small lean packet, which she ripped open to reveal a thin piece of wood, which she split into two, and smiled at it as if it gave her the single most, greatest pleasure.

“Do you know what these are?” She asked him, holding up the two wooden sticks in front of him. He shook his head.

“Chopsticks. These are chopsticks”

Loki was compelled to tell her that he was not interested. But the fact of the matter was, he actually was. Seemingly the two sticks appeared completely useless; what could a pair of two wooden sticks possibly do? But he was proven wrong, as she dipped the two sticks which she most skillfully worked with her slender fingers, almost elegantly to pick up the content in the bowl.

And the content happened to be long, piping hot strings of-of  _ whatever, _ he couldn’t really work out  _ what _ . All that he knew was that never in his life had he seen anything stranger than people eating long string-like condiments with the help of wooden strips.  _ Soul  _ seemed to surprise him more and more every day. 

He didn’t want to appear rude but it took a minute for him to realise that he was actually staring as she greedily slurped up the food. And these particular humans made a loud, gourmandish sound as they ate, almost as if it was a necessity. Or was it just her?

“Oof, you must be hungry. Do you want to try?” The mortal held the bowl in front of him, and he looked into it to find a wheaty, stringly, soupy mess. He moved away and shook his head.

“You gods must be eating luxurious food then” The mortal shrugged and moved away. “Here in my world, this is the best you can afford, and it tastes good too”

Back in his world, they ate a feast; the tables were laden with an array of succulent delicacies, varying from fruits to vegetables of the freshest harvest, fine meats that had been freshly slaughtered from the kingdoms own farms, olden wines and crusty breads which crack so softly, warm to the touch. They did not live their lives in such unpleasant circumstances that humans did. If anything, there wasn’t anything that Asgardians couldn’t afford. They didn’t need to. Food was a necessity as much as breathing was.

“Are you sure you don’t want any?” The mortal went on with a full mouth, her lips glistening with the fat in her soup. “You look like you need some energy”

“No, I’m good” He replied almost immediately. He was quite famished, if he was to admit; especially upon recalling all those grand feasts that they’ve had back in Asgard. But he couldn’t quite possibly admit it, as the chances were that he would have to end up consuming that strangly wheaty soup that they called food.

“Here, have this then” The mortal’s voice interrupted his thoughts, his day-dreams of delicious Asgardian delicacies, and soon she placed a small item before him. It was, by the looks of it, a strangely shaped little bottle. There was a small stick-like figure standing perpendicular to its top, flat, silvery surface. Loki narrowed his eyes at it, and when he picked it up, it was cold to the touch.

“Try it. It’s banana milk”

Loki had heard of Banana and milk. In fact, they were both most commonly consumed provisions in Asgard as well. But he had never seen Banana or Milk coming together, in a container so small, no less.

“You drink it, like this” The mortal demonstrated with her own little bottle, holding it between her slender fingers, the tips of which turned a warm pink against the cold, and had the stick-like figure between her lips as she continuously swallowed. A strange human invention, really. He hadn’t read about those in his researches. Nobody had really written anything about them.

Subconsciously, Loki picked up the bottle himself and put the stick-like thing in his mouth. He had expected it to be cold too, which was not. It was plastic, and had a lengthy hole inside which allowed the liquid to ascend up to his mouth. The liquid, similar to milk by texture but colder, felt sweet and succulent; an unexpectedly satisfying experience itself. He liked that burst of flavor, nothing like he ever tasted before. For a moment, they were both quiet as they both simultaneously devoured on the peculiarly tasteful liquid. He didn’t even realise that he’d finished it, not until he started to make that loud, rude noise himself.

The mortal was uncharacteristically delighted by it that she laughed. 

“You liked it!” She clapped her hands and held them together like she was praying, her eyes widened and shining like large amber pools. “How was it like?”

“Who decided to put Banana and milk together?” Loki finally found his voice, the taste of the liquid still prominent upon his taste buds, asking for more.

The mortal mulled it over. “I don’t know” she said thoughtfully, and then grinned in delight. “Probably a genius!”

He wasn’t sure how this human seemed to find happiness in everything. He had threatened to kill her, and she’d admitted herself that her life wasn’t easy. She lived in an asphyxiatingly small house which was owned by an old woman who may or may not attack her in her time being the only tenant, and she lived by herself, accompanied by a small furry creature which seemed to never indulge her existence in any form or way. For someone who seemed to always inhabit solidarity, this mortal was uncharacteristically happy. And perhaps, after all the humans that he’d met here on Midgard, she was easily the strangest. He hated to admit it, and he would never, to her face; but she was possibly his favorite too.

Loki didn’t realise, in that few seconds of quietness, the mortal was gazing at him, almost mesmerized. He narrowed his eyes. “What?”

“No, just…” She cleared her throat and turned away. “Well, you look kind of...nice, when you smile”

Loki didn’t answer, not for a moment, or at all. He didn’t realise he was smiling. He usually didn’t, not unconsciously to him. Smiles, for him, were enforced to suit a situation, to negotiate, to show his interest and sometimes, to manipulate. He didn’t smile for the same reasons that others did. It never came naturally. And for that reason, he felt ashamed. He felt ashamed that he allowed himself to be different, even for that one moment. To be unlike himself. He just stared ahead of himself, feigning ignorance to the rest of the world around him.

“You know what? I’ll get some more of these” The Mortal filled in the quietness, her face impassive, and climbed up on her feet. As she soon disappeared behind the aisles once more, Loki was left alone with his confused, muddled up thoughts.

  
  


The universe was vast, but  _ Soul _ felt even bigger when he tried to work out where the Tesseract could possibly be. Her suggestion was to rule down every place that it could have fallen to. It hadn’t happened to him before. The Tesseract hadn’t been in his possession for long, but when it did, he had never lost it, so it wasn’t easy to work out what its fate could be let alone rule out the places it probably landed in. Loki had tried everything in his mental capacity to locate it. He’d recalled back to when he’d first landed, when he last felt it in his grasp, if it was alive when he’d stolen it. He was pretty sure that it was, and the Tesseract, when alive, transported the wielder where it pleased. It couldn’t be handled with human hands, and if it was in its fullest energy, it was powerful enough to burn even the most strengthful of metals. And if it landed in the wrong place, or if its access was granted to the wrong person, well…

“Right!” The mortal said, placing her spiral pad upon the table that they sat on, outside her house, multiple bottles of Banana Milk accompanying them. She pushed the notepad towards him.

“The Tesseract could have fallen to all these various places”

There were a couple of places that she had scribbled on the paper in english, and he’d never seen uglier handwriting in his life. He didn’t bother reading as he didn’t know any of these places the first place.

The mortal was unimpressed as she retrieved her book. “Well, I think we should start from the Han river, given that it had once fallen into the sea”

“It could be anywhere” He replied.

“But if we were close enough to it, you would feel it”

He nodded. “I can sense it presence if it was in close proximity”

“Even if it was under water?”

“Yes” He sighed. “If I know where it is, I can beckon it to me”

“Good” Said the mortal and set down her second empty bottle of Banana milk on the table. Then she gave him a smile. “Then, You and I, your highness, are going on an adventure”

 

  
  
  


“On this?” Loki asked her as he stared at the apparatus in absolute horror. He had seen many horrendous things on earth; humans slaughter each other for power, those retaining dangerous beasts in hopes it reassured their safety in expense of many lives. But never had he ever seen anything equally more hideous and dangerous than this...thing that the mortal called a scooter. A scooter. The name itself sounded quite shady, and he hated how it seemed to rhyme along with shooter, which wasn’t a nice word to rhyme with.

“Come on, don’t be a pansy, you’re a god” Said the mortal, putting on her head some sort of safety gear.All things considered, it didn’t appear like it would actually serve its purpose.. He considered the benefit of summoning his own head gear; and better yet, not travelling on this particular mode of transportation at all.

“I’m not” He replied distractedly. 

“Not a pansy? Or not a god?” She smiled when he threw a cold glare at her direction, and tossed a similar headgear to her own towards him. He caught it without fuss, but still couldn’t bring himself to wear it, bearing in mind that the moment he put it on, it would solidify the circumstances of travel that they had now. He had to find an alternative, anything.

He tucked the helmet under his arm. “Where are we going?” 

“We’re going to the Mapo bridge”

“Is it close?”

The mortal shrugged. “Not very far”

Loki took the helmet to his hand. “Well then I’ll walk”

The mortal looked up at him scrutinizingly, and then she burst out laughing. “Don’t tell me you’re scared to ride my scooty!”

He rolled his eyes, exasperated. It almost appeared as if humans existed to continuously test his level of patience. “I am not. I don’t believe I’d fit in there”

“You didn’t even try” She wheezed out hysterically.

“I don’t have to because it certainly wouldn’t” He kicked on its rear tire with the sole of his human shoes, and the scooter visibly shook. “This thing wouldn’t survive transporting two people for two steps”

The mortal looked behind her at the minimal space that’s left behind her, the space that she possibly thought he would fit in, and then at the large box container on the very back. “Perhaps, if you remove this ...or even better…” She looked at him, eyes narrowed. “Hey God, can you, like, shrink yourself?”

Loki threw a hard glare at her direction, taking offence; “No”

“Do you have a better plan than this?”

He would very much like to teleport himself, but without knowing the destination, it wouldn’t be possible. He looked down at the scooter again, and then at the sky above. It was dusk already;stars scattered about, their shine dimmed in the yellow lights of the city. The tesseract was out there, somewhere. And  the longer he let it on lose, the stronger their threats would be. He simply hadn’t any time to waste.

“Well?”

Loki let out a heavy sigh. He had ridden alien ships of every size, he’d gone on backs of human trucks driving in impossible speeds through a rain of lethal gunshots. Compared to them, a ride on a measly small scooter should be nothing. 

“Alright, fine” He breathed, and slowly climbed on behind her. They hardly had space on it, and his legs, a little too long to fit in, stuck out by the knees in an uncomfortable angle. It felt even stranger to be in such a physical proximity to the mortal, pressed against her, her back to his chest. He kept his hands to himself, trying his best not to cross her unspoken boundaries, even by accident.

The mortal cleared her throat, and leaned over to two handles before her and turned back, only to remind him of two, and just two things.

“Put the helmet on, your highness” She said and gave him a side-eyes smile. “And hold on tight!”


	6. 5: Life

It was after what happened with my mother that I came to understand the fragility of life. At the age of eight, I had seen and experienced way too many things, the sort of things that a typical child of my age wouldn’t have handled very well. My father used to tell me, for a child, I had been surprisingly calm through it all. I don’t remember a lot of things from that time. What I could recall, as clearly as daylight was this; I was afraid. Perhaps the reason why I had taken to the sudden incidents and changes so well was my fear. Perhaps I was simply numbed and blinded by that fear that I hadn’t responded in the manner that I should have. I remembered that time, standing on the edge of a blade, waiting for the fall, watching everything in my young life fall apart. We moved houses so many times, we stayed in hospitals for even longer. It was dark and stormy for a long, long time; the dark clouds afloat above us, raining and drenching us cold. But then, all of a sudden, everything stopped. My fears were answered, and what I felt since then was different. And then we moved on.

That night, I travelled to the Mapo bridge with a dangerous god sitting behind me, feeling the rush of the spring wind in my face and occasionally the warmth of him on my back. For the first time ever, I actually felt liberated. The past few months, my life had moved on in the same languid pace. I had gone to work, gone to school and once in a while, to an audition which ultimately I failed. I was in a routine that I couldn’t find myself to enjoy, and every night I spent in the darkness of my flat, listening to the sound of my own voice, louder than ever, conversing in my head. For the past two days, however, everything was different. It was exciting to know that my life was constantly under threat. I know that it was not a feeling that I should exactly acknowledge. But in Loki’s presence, I was finally feeling and breathing, I was stepping out of my comfort zone and doing things that I’d never imagined I would ever. And incidentally, I was asking for more.

I parked the scooter somewhere close to the entrance of the walking path of the bridge. There was something eerily beautiful about this place. In the night, as the city lit up in the horizon, as the bridge emitted its blue and golden light in the form of ripples against the dark water underneath, it seemed to create a different world altogether. Uncertainty and fear surrounding it was palpable; perhaps only for me. It was the truths and the history surrounding this bridge, all the many stories that it hid underneath the calm monster of the river underneath.

I entered the walking path, feeling the wind rushing through my hair, my hands buried in my pockets, and Loki quietly followed. He hadn’t presented me with any of his snarky remarks since we arrived here. It's almost as if he had sensed the darkness that I felt at this moment, that surrounded me. I wouldn’t be surprised. He was a god, after all. As we passed, the messages along the railing of the bridge followed like quiet beckonings, lighting up as we moved along. I was too afraid to even contemplate the stories that they held; each and every one of these words, each and every one of these phrases had either saved a life, or taken one. There was no in between for the lost and the broken.

At that moment, Loki revealed to me another power of his that had since long remained concealed. He could  _ read _ them, and in an accent surprisingly similar to that of the origin, he read the phrases under his breath.

_ “How are you doing? Have you eaten today? Isn’t it nice to be walking on this bridge?” _

His eyes were narrowed in confusion as he read them, and I was pretty sure he had bridges where he came from, but not anything like this.

“Do you feel it?” I asked him. I wasn’t sure what I was referring to, whether it was the cosmic cube or something else entirely.  

“Hm?” he glanced at me distractedly. “I do not feel the tesseract...but a deep sense of...melancholy” He paused in front of a bronze statue placed atop a bench. It was of one man seemingly comforting another; a man who appeared tired and weary, but not quite depicting the sadness that  _ they _ would feel. He gazed at the statue for a moment too long, unaware of his scarf that had unfurled and slowly drifted in the wind. In the depth of his blue eyes was an emotion so profound and unreadable. I wondered if he felt that sadness too.

“What is this?” He asked me gently as he gazed at the statue for even longer. “Why does it look so... _ painful? _ ”

I approached him and stood on his side. “You can read the messages”

He ignored me, and slowly moved away. We walked along for a few minutes in absolute silence, the sombreness of the place, the moment a dark cloud floating above. He then stopped at yet another message. Rather than words, it was a line of photographs of little children, smiling warmly and in childish delight. Loki reached out with a hand and his slender fingers brushed pass their happy faces.

“They are...children”

“Babies” I nodded, giving him a smile. But he wasn’t one to notice. He was either deeply compelled or deeply disturbed. I couldn’t tell.

We went past the baby pictures and then passed by another set of messages, lightening up as we walked. And we’ve reached the middle of the bridge.

“What is this place?” Loki finally asked me the question that I had quietly awaited. I leaned over the railing, looking ahead at the brightly lit horizon. And he followed.

“It’s the bridge of life”

“Bridge of life?” He reiterated, confusion etched in his fine features.

“Bridge of Life” I nodded and leaned against the bridge to my side. It was a spectacular sight before me, Loki standing tall, dark and beautiful in the eerie backdrop of the bridge in the night. He gazed down at me. “Every year, on the bridge of life, so many people end their lives”

“ _ End _ ...their lives?” a deep furrow formed on his brow. 

I nodded and glanced down at the silent, dark body of water underneath. It remained tranquil, despite all the many lives that it had swallowed. “People who were sad, who couldn’t take it anymore. They come over here, climb over this railing, and fall to their deaths”

“They...drown themselves?” Loki sounded unsure, and the lowly tone of his voice was a sign of disbelief. 

“They do. Sometimes, the bodies appear on the shore. The other times, they just disappear”

He was quiet after that, for a long, long time. I believe that he’d never heard of this tragedy before; he had never known of humans that experienced pain to this extent. I didn’t dare look into his eyes, lest I would see thousand many questions inside them. Perhaps he was just confused, or perhaps he was terrified of what humans were capable of.

Yet somehow, the weight in my heart grew heavier. My father had specifically told me about this place when I’d arrived here, that one place that he’d wanted me to avoid. I suppose I’d still wanted to be here, just once in my life. Although this wasn’t where I lost my mother, I had this deep, disturbing thought that her soul might be somewhere around here, floating in the cold wind, waiting for me.. It was not that I would follow her footsteps; I hadn’t felt the need to. But despite everything, I  _ missed _ her. And I would give anything to see her again one last time. Tonight, when I first decided to come here in search for the cosmic cube, I had given myself a reason and a purpose to come here. And I wasn’t alone. It was a comfort for me, despite the truest form of my company.

And at that moment, waiting for the last remaining fragments of her memories to pass by, I desired to release all my thoughts of her into the wind.

“My mother” I said, to Loki or to nobody in particular, I couldn’t tell. He was quiet, staring ahead. I wasn’t certain if he was listening to me or not. But I continued. “My mother was like that. She was sad and lost and broken. And she killed herself”

Loki didn’t say anything. But he showed his interest by turning to face me. I didn’t see him, but I sensed him. There was this comforting warmth that he emanated, his presence, that beckoned me to go on.

“I was eight at that time, so I don’t remember much. She tried to die so many times so me and Papa were always at the hospital with her. And in the end, I think Papa gave up on trying. it’s not like he didn’t try to save her. He  _ did _ . But he knew that it was a vain effort. And he just let go”

He was quiet still, and the wind gushed past, unfurling his scarf even more. This time he was conscious enough to grab hold of it and tuck it in his coat. “Did she come here? Your mother?”

I shook my head. “We are Japanese. And we lived in Japan until I was eight. She didn’t come here ...” I hesitated, gazing down at my hand grasping the railing of the bridge. I didn’t realise that I held it so hard that my skin had paled. “There are other ways to end your life, you know ...and they don’t always involve bridges”

I could still recall that day; although vaguely. I could remember the prominent bits and pieces that made up her story. She had tried several times. I remember the scars on her pale, boney hands. I remember the bottles of pills on the dresser that she didn’t let me go near to. And from that fateful day, I remember her bare feet, pale and rigid, elevated so high up off the floor. I remember her fisted hands and her dark hair curtaining her face. I remember falling back against a wall and screaming, my little young heart unable to understand. I remember my father, weary and horrified taking her in his arms for one last time, and finally, I remember us sending her off. It was a collection of vague memories, yet it was that turn in our lives that changed everything forever. We moved out of Japan, my father wanting to put that past behind, avoid all the pressure that the death of a loved one entailed. But we both couldn’t talk about her again, not without that searing pain in our hearts. Perhaps, it was wrong to have assumed that we moved on and let her go; because, ultimately, we never did.

“Do you think about her often?” Loki’s voice floated into my mind, and I looked up to see his eyes bearing into mine. For the first time ever, they held an emotion that I could only describe as pain. Was he empathizing? Was he feeling what I felt?

I nodded, smiling painfully in return. “We mourn for her, every single day” I swallowed, turning away to look over the horizon again. “Papa and I thought that’s what she probably wanted. But losing someone you loved...it never goes away, you know”

It was almost as if he agreed on that; the way he didn’t question anymore. I watched him as he looked down at the water underneath. Loki was thousands of years old. Their people were powerful, had inhuman strength. No blade could penetrate their skin easily, and had natural healing abilities. They had super powers, and they could travel back and forth through worlds. But the question was, how strong were their hearts? How strong were their souls? Loki was so guarded, so mysterious. It was impossible to break down the barricades built around him, to see into is soul. Sometimes, I’ve felt that his eyes might mirror his emotions; that’s how lively they were. But in the depths of them were million untold stories, too complex to decipher, too far fetched to understand. I wondered if I could ever scratch on that wall around him, a tiniest dent to peek into his heart, even for a mere glance. But as always, the moment an unlikely emotion appeared in his eyes, he closed down, as if he was afraid to be seen.

“We wouldn’t find it here” Loki said to me, moving away as he glanced over at me. At that point, I knew that the moment was gone. He was the dangerous god again, searching for his sole gateway back to his world; and I had returned to being his meekly little servant, sacrificing her life in an unlikely exchange.

“Right” I breathed, composing myself. I took one last long glance across the dark body of the river underneath, in hopes that my eyes would trace even a glimpse of her. She was not there. None of the lost souls were.  The river remained tranquil and sombre like it always did, the horizon a glimmering strip of yellow light. When I glanced over at the way we came, Loki was already striding back his way, promptly avoiding the lightening messages on his side. With a deep sigh, I followed after him. 

  
  


Thousands of years ago, in a time before him, Loki’s father Odin had ruled the earth. He had heard millions of stories about that time in his childhood; those were the stories that he grew up with. And since that time, Loki had dreamed about Midgard, about the beautiful places that he’d imagined, about people, about their lives. He had thought he hadn’t always wanted to be a king. He had thought all he’d tried to achieve was equality to his brother, escaping the dark shadow he cast, and shine underneath the brilliance of his own greatness. But deep down, he knew; there was a king within him, struggling to break through and rule. War had never been in his mind. Violence wasn’t always an answer. A peaceful regime under powerful rule. Perhaps that’s what it had been back in the time of his father; but then, everything had changed. Midgard was chaotic and lawless than ever before.

When He’d met Thor at that time, he opposed to his proposition of rule, claiming that the ‘Earth was under his protection’ Loki remembered how obnoxious he sounded at that moment. A ridiculous claim, really. In his time on the earth, Loki had experienced violence and savage tendencies in all of their extremisms. There was no god who  _ could _ provide them protection. Midgard was in utter pandemonium, and as it happened, protection of a god did them no good. Despite worshipping and kneeling before the gods in their minds, humans killed each other; they killed  _ themselves _ . They needed to be protected from each other as well as their own brutal minds.

That night, as he listened to the Mortal speak of her pain, he wouldn’t say that he’d felt that height of sorrow, but he could feel it radiating from her, brushing past him like a beacon. The humans were left in pain upon their loved ones falling to their death on their own accord. From where had this brutality come about? He knew that he wasn’t the one to speak of falling to death or of inflicting pain in other hearts; he just wasn’t in the right position to, given all the things he’d done. But in his defence, when he fell to his death, he knew that he wasn’t dying. Despite what his idiotic brother was convinced of, falling to the universe did not cause one to perish. Rather, it opened gateways, and he knew he would fall to a place, alive and unscathed. But only he did not know to where. Yet, Thor claimed, they’d cried, they’d mourned, they’d not celebrated his death as he’d imagined they did. He wondered what his mother felt, he wondered how his father reacted. But there was no question there; nothing would change whether he lived or didn’t. His father would remain the same, if not, become worse. His mother would still love Thor more, and if anything, he still wouldn’t be one of them, whether they mourned for him or not. So once he found the Tesseract, Asgard would not be the land he’d return to, no matter how painful it felt.

After they left the bridge, the mortal drove them to where she thought they’d find the tesseract next; yet another bridge, but instead of standing over it, they climbed down to the river bank underneath. Soul was a brightly lit city, every edge and corner lightened up, and full of life. As the walked along the path on the river bank, they passed a number of people, certain with their mobile devices in hand, the others accompanied by groups of people and even furry animals on tow. Loki gazed across the river, at the silvery waves, tranquil in the dark.

“Do you feel it?” Asked the mortal, her voice unusually quiet as she did. He narrowed his eyes, having already concluded that it was nowhere near them, and he shrugged.

The mortal sighed so heavily as if she had a great big weight upon her. “Why don’t you feel it?”

“It’s not here” He supplied helpfully. She was quiet afterwards, and they walked along for a mile or so, he couldn’t really tell.  The spring breeze was rushing past them, and the mortal trembled beside him, evidently not bearing the cold in the way that he did. He considered giving her something that would help her warm up, and then decided against it. In that quietness, he contemplated things. 

He thought of a world so chaotic where life wasn’t given worth as much as power or wealth was. Chaotic, lawless. Would the right king ever be able to set things right? Highly unlikely. As it happened, they had a different division of power. Back when he was in New York, he came to understand that. There was no one superior ruler, a king above all. There were  groups of people; law and order was in their hands. Even with this, there never seemed to be perfect order, way too many people to rule over, way too many powerless citizens. It was pandemonium. Were the state of their natural habitat the same when Odin was in power? And had it not shared that in his stories? Did people still kill each other and themselves back then?

Unaware to him, they have walked a considerable distance along the river bank, and he hadn’t even realised that he was deeply engrossed in his thoughts, momentarily forgetting the reason and his purpose here. For now, it didn’t matter. His mind was filled with myriad thoughts, of things so unexpected that they almost scared him.

“What are you thinking about?” The mortal’s voice floated into his mind. 

He gestured at the river before them. “Did people jump from this bridge here?”

“Probably” she shrugged, as if it’s something that happened in her world on a regular basis. “I mean, they jump from every bridge, although more jumped from that bridge”

Loki mulled it over and narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

“Why, why did they die?”

He didn’t reply.

“Well, many reasons. Money, relationships, and all of that”

They’ve stopped walking by then, and the mortal walked down the slope of greenery and comfortably settled herself down in the grass. Loki followed suite, although finding it uncomfortable, sitting on the spring dew, and he brought his knees up, folding his arms around them. 

“I’m in disbelief” He told her, speaking out his inner thoughts. “Not only do humans kill each other. They kill themselves too?”

The mortal was staring ahead, her eyes seemingly lost in the vast world beyond them. “Well, that’s how it’s been...for centuries”

“Human life span isn’t long”

“True” the mortal sighed and lied on her back on the grass.

“I don’t understand” Loki shook his head, now speaking more to himself. “It-it seems more savage and-and chaotic than any realm I’ve known…”

During his exile, Loki had seen things and places that he’d never imagined. Beings that only appeared in nightmares; so brutal and murderous with their formidable powers, barren and empty worlds where one wouldn’t survive unless they had the strength and the will to fight for their survival. Earth may not appear as vicious and brutal as the world he’d seen; but then again, the earth was not supposed to be as vicious and brutal. Humans were rather benign creatures; they were considerably less powerful compared to all the other beings of all the realms known. It is true, no world existed without war, violence and struggle for survival. But that was a struggle for survival, even killing each other. But perishing their own selves? Loki simply couldn’t find an explanation for that. 

“I don’t know” The mortal’s voice, and he turned to look down at her. She was staring ahead, up at the stars, her eyes glassy, unreadable. “Maybe human hearts are more fragile than you gods”

Loki went quiet at that. Perhaps it's all about the heart and the mind, their inner makeup, the mechanisms of the human brain that he would never come to understand. But then again, these were the stories that he’d never heard from his father.

“My father ruled the earth as a benevolent god so many years ago. They respected him, worshiped him...but he was a god that existed among them”

The mortal was quiet, but by the way that she looked at him, he could see that she was interested. So he continued. “I grew up hearing stories about this planet. Of the people, of many beautiful places; the oceans, the forests, all the many species that lived in harmony. But never have I heard of anything more... _ vicious _ . Taking their own lives had not been a part of being on earth…”

There was a contemplative silence, and soon the mortal raised up to a seating position, resting her head on her folded knees. “Well, most certainly, the times have changed” She let out a heavy sigh, appearing as if she carried a heavy weight, yet again. “Back then, people obviously didn’t have rents and student loans and doing a hundred different jobs to survive the day…”

Loki narrowed his eyes at her, and she turned to him, a soft smile on her lips. “You see, your highness, this is the thing about large societies. Our struggles are different from yours, because living itself is a struggle for us. We don’t have superhuman strengths and what not. Instead, we need to be educated and wealthy if we need to survive. These are capitalist societies. Do you know what that means?”

Loki shook his head.

“We’re driven by the need of money" She explained, her words echoing like thunder. "We need money to eat, to sleep in, to stay healthy, to even breath. And every single day, we have to go through hell to collect that money; and those who couldn’t survive that struggle…” She pointed at the bridge before them, made a human like figure with her two fingers and made a small sound as she demonstrated it, a man falling to his death. “Sometimes, it just sounds like the answer…”

He tilted his head, gazing at her thoughtfully. The answer. Was it possibly the _only_ answer?

“Perhaps, if they had a better ruler…” He started, but the mortal held out a hand. For the first time, a mere mortal was stopping him from speaking. And for the first time, he, a god, obliged. 

“Trust me, your highness. We don’t have just one ruler. We have so many; a parliament of them, if you may. And then there are smaller divisions, there are rulers of rulers, all that lot. But still see how things are like?”

He remained quiet, his mind in a whirlwind. He hadn’t known all these. At least, not enough.

The mortal looked at him with a tight lipped smile, her eyes gleaming, as all that she’d said had come right from the depths of her heart, from her own struggles of survival. But Loki couldn’t find the strength to empathize, as he could never come close to understand their state of life. 

“The last thing we need now is a god or a powerful ruler above us. You think you’d be able to stop any of this?”

He opened his mouth to speak, but she beat it to him, answering her own question. “Things have been like this for years now. Not just here, but all over the world. Powerful people would come and go, technology will develop, buildings will get taller, the richer will get richer. But all of us? We’d still remain the same, dying without anybody knowing and struggling to survive everyday. So,”

She climbed up on her feet, then, and dusted the grass off herself. She then held out a hand towards him, a smile on her lips. “Your highness, let’s go and find your cosmic cube before it could make the damage even worse”

Loki looked at her hand, and then up at her face. In the dimmed lights of the night, she appeared ethereal for a moment; and he was captivated by her existence, by her words. A strange individual, stronger than she appeared in her small built. It would be wonderful to peek into her mind, to dig through her thoughts, to see her more than he already did. He admired her strength, her vision, her bravery to speak up, even against a god himself. Here was a woman who had bravely made negotiations with a god who’d otherwise be called a war criminal. The avengers had him in a muzzle and chains, despite their powers. Yet here she was, holding out a hand of support.

He looked at her again, and for the first time in his life, he surrendered to a mortal. He couldn’t find the strength within him to not to. Her hand was soft and her will was remarkable. As he climbed back on his feet, and as they yet again made their way back along the river bank, Loki found himself coming to a new resolve. Midgard didn’t need a ruler, no. It had plenty of that than they possibly wanted. It needed to be protected. It needed to be protected from those fighting over it to prove their own powers, so that mortals as herself could survive.

And perhaps, perhaps...Loki could grant them just that.


	7. 6: Heart and Soul

Loki sometimes wondered if the Tesseract had its own conscious, powerful enough to move itself on its own. It’s been three days since their search began, three days since that moment of epiphany on the river bank, and still there was not a single sign of the cosmic cube.  On the mortal’s list, places were ticked off one after the other, and every night they sat on the ledge of the rooftop, drinking the Banana-Milk concoction in a bottle, talking about what came next. In the morning, the mortal went to study, late afternoons she went to her myriad jobs. Sometimes she was mopping the floors of restaurants (These funny places where humans play music in the background and pay others to cook various meals for them. He didn’t think they had those in Asgard) and other times she’d do rounds on her scooter delivering all sorts of goods, mostly food, to other people in exchange for money. And in the night she sometimes did this one other job where she cleaned the charcoal in a dish where they charred meat on top of a table. She called it  _ Barbecue _ , but that reminded him of a book he’d read on the ancient Midgardians when they first found fire. He realised that some humans really haven’t evolved much in certain aspects. It is much later in the night that they could go in search for the Tesseract, and he’d had to show several other ones of his powers to gain a safe access inside and outside of the places they visited. And each time, she’d stare at him in childish fascination, her eyes glimmering like stars, lips forming a wondrous smile, and it had been climbing up his nerves for the past few days. But she was happy to oblige with his orders, no fuss-no complain, like an obedient little servant. But in her own little moments, she would be ordering him around herself, and Loki, for the first time in his life, found himself complying to a mortal. They were equals in that aspect, both engaged in the same quest. he felt needed, he felt as if he was actually doing something for the greater good; not hiding in a shadow, not criticised, not neglected, but actually appreciated for the effort. And it actually felt good. 

At the end of three days, they had to come to a conclusion. They would search in the last few places on the list; and if still not found, it was either protected under much powerful guard which constrained its energy, or it would have fallen to the sea, in which case he would be stuck on earth, unless of course, Odin mustered all of his powers and dragged him there, which was unlikely. For Loki, being stuck on earth felt ideal and wrong at the same time. For one, he was a  _ god _ . He had super powers, couldn’t live in these ordinary human circumstances, and he would live longer than they did, and had no place to stay. On the other hand, a lost tesseract was no good sign. Tesseract being lost  _ on earth _ , even worse. It would most certainly drag other more menacing threats to the earth; the powerful threats that not even he would be  powerful enough to ward away, not even the SHIELD or the Avengers. It would put the earth in danger.

“So what do you reckon we do?” Asked the Mortal, holding a bottle of Banana milk, its straw between her teeth. “Assuming that we looked in all possible places?”

“There are places outside of Seoul, surely?” He asked her.

“There are” She nodded. “But you said you didn’t fly over the country, so-,”

“But we must look. We must look everywhere”

She stared at him for a moment, her mouth agape, and then she sighed. “Okay, everywhere” She emphasised the last word as she wrote it down in her book.  _ “Everywhere”  _

Loki rolled his eyes. “Where do we need to go next?”

“Tonight?”

He nodded, and she consulted her book, her messy scribbles inconveniently floating all over the sheet. “Well, we’ll go to Gwanghwamun in the morning tomorrow. Tonight...we’re going to Myongdong”

Loki narrowed his eyes. “What is there in that place?”

The mortal hopped down off the wall, a wide smile upon her lips, and immediately, Loki didn’t have a good feeling about it. She held out a fist in the air and exclaimed; “Shopping!”

  
  


After much deep and thorough analysis during the past few days I’d spent with him, I came down to a conclusion; Loki, the Prince of Asgard, was an absolute party pooper.

He was thousands of years old, so it was understandable why he always acted like an old man being forced into doing fun stuff, but shopping wasn’t considered fun stuff, and I was just taking him there to look for the cosmic tube. But since he was being a complete drag, complaining all the way to the tube that we were wasting time, we changed the destination plan and decided to go to the next on the list, the Nseoul tower.

From the moment we got on the tube, he’d still been frowning and complaining. He barely held onto the overhead poles as the train whizzed off, not even budging and gaining confused glances by the other patrons inside. For a moment, I had to pretend I didn’t even know him, and at one point, when an old drunkard got in and started yelling profanities at him, Loki appeared to have had enough and we had to get off at the next stop and take the bus to go on the rest. Seemingly, he preferred the bus more as he was quiet throughout the forty five minutes of the drive. The road to the tower was a beautiful climb uphill, and as the tower grew closer, I could see the evident fascination it his eyes. I pointed at it through the bus’s window, and he peered with widened eyes, showing a childish innocence and fascination which really gripped my heart. Loki could be a thousand year old, dangerous war criminal trickster god, but still I had to admit; he was undeniably adorable at times.

When we got off the bus at the Nseoul tower bus stop, it was freezing. Its a bad idea to visit the tower during the cold seasons. The high altitude made it unbearable to function in that temperature. But still, it was beautiful. The Cherry blossom trees still seemed alive, even in the dead of the night; their soft pink petals staining the tarmac grounds. To the right, the city lit up in various colours in the horizon. Loki looked around in genuine interest, not a bit deterred by the cold, eyes scanning his surroundings inquisitively. For the first time ever, I wasn’t worried about him murdering people. He had to be here, he had to see these things, the wonders of South Korea that he probably hadn’t experienced before. For me, it sort of felt like not a conquest of saving the world but so much as a tour around the country.

“Hey, your highness” I hissed at him, and he turned to me, appearing offended at the disrespect, which I ignored. I grabbed him by his jacket sleeve. He was in a nice grey coat today, paired with a white button down, a green scarf and no tie, which looked good on him. The grey seemed to really bring out the colour of his eyes. 

“What?” He didn’t bother to lower his voice, and I dragged him off to the edge of the mountain, to the cold railing, beyond which lied the city in all its brightened glory.

“Look” I whispered. And he did.

For a moment, we were both in a daze. From my rooftop, we couldn’t see much into the distance but only the few buildings and stores in the periphery, whereas from the highest point of the city, we could see everything. We could see every single living and breathing being in fragments of their existence, their lives in the night that we’d never know. The thought itself made the moment magical for me, to see life from such a distance, to not actually see them but know that they were there. For someone else, that had been us. And it was even more terrifying to know that somewhere out there was the single most dangerous element in the universe that could destroy the lives and the tranquility that lied ahead of us.

I glanced over at Loki, prepared to ask, as I had always when we were going in search for the tesseract, if he felt it. But then I stopped. My eyes remained fixated on the sight before me, and I was mesmerized. 

During the past few days that I had spent in his presence, with deep contemplation and analysis, I had come to a conclusion; Loki, the prince of Asgard was deeply compelling, and perhaps even the most beautiful man I had ever seen. It might not strike so at first glance, provided that he didn't do so well at giving good first impressions. But then, as time passed and as I continued to be in his presence for even longer, I had begun to see sides of him that I had never imagined. Although he continued to remain closed and distant, there were certain vulnerable moments that he seemed to let his guards down. They weren’t frequent, and these moments didn’t last for long. But even the glimpse of his true self appeared enigmatic, beautiful; his vulnerability, unexpected gentleness, and at some points, fear. He was far from what he appeared to be, and that made him entracing all the same.

It took me a second to realise that I had, perhaps, stared at him for far too long. He could sense me, although he continued to gaze at the city even under my eyes. A moment later, I realised that he’d been staring back at me in return. His eyes narrowed at me, almost accusingly, but not a word did he say as I cleared my throat and looked away. I suppose I had been doing a lot of staring at gods lately. A god, specifically, and it was almost becoming unhealthy.

“Shall we go in?” I told him, filling in the silence between us. 

Loki walked around the Patio while I purchased the tickets for the tower, hands buried in his pockets and hair dancing in the breeze. He was catching eyes of people without him even noticing. Perhaps he actually did but he just didn’t care anymore, getting used to all that attention and probably even enjoying it. In the beginning, I had thought that it was only because he appeared completely out of place wherever he went. But slowly, the real reason was becoming evident to me. he just seemed out of this world. They couldn’t stop looking at him, just as I myself did.

“Got them?” He asked tiredly as I approached him in two strides. The queue was long despite it being in the middle of the spring, and Loki wasn’t one that really appreciated waiting. I held his ticket out towards him which he snatched without question and clenched in his fist. 

I hadn’t been here to the Nseoul tower before, although it had been in my itinerary when I first came here. If it was beautiful from afar, it was indeed breathtaking to see, standing here. We were led through a darkened corridor, passing by the customary tourist attraction photography and passing on the extra payment required for it. I didn’t suppose Loki was someone who appreciated having his photo taken in a green background. The elevator which transported the passengers up the tower was said to be of such a high speed that throughout the five minutes trip up the tower, the lift lightened up in stars and a burst of colours, the screens panelling inside the lift distracting the patrons from its sheer pressure. Loki, however, seemed completely undeterred. I suppose this experience was nowhere near to travelling across the universe and time.

And soon, we were on the top observatory. There wasn’t much to see, except for the beautiful view of the city and the few souvenir shops. As soon as we entered, I saw Loki walking around, his senses on high alert, searching for the cube. He met my eyes across the corridor and shook his head. His fear and disappointment was evident at that point. The many times we failed, the harder the entire conquest appeared to be. I was slowly losing hopes, and frankly wondered if we’d ever locate it, even if we swept the entire city. The only way that would actually work was to build the machine that tracked its gamma rays, but for now, we were out of hopes.

“It’s alright” I told him comfortingly as we came to a halt at a glass panel, overlooking the city. “We will find it. And even if we didn’t, we’ll find a way”

I wanted to reach out and place a reassuring hand on his arm, yet I refrained. He was quiet, but he still nodded. Exhausted by the endless amount of events within the day, I sat down on a nearby bench, my head resting on my hands. Give it a few seconds, and Loki followed suit. He didn’t sit quite so close to me, but close enough for me to feel his warmth, sense his presence, his gaze falling upon me. I continued to stare ahead, acutely aware of him on my side. He was watching me, I could feel it. Heat descended to my face and hands clenched in my lap, embarrassed. But as he spoke, he yet again, looked ahead of him.

“I admire your perseverance...and positivity, truly” He was smiling this little boyish smile of his as he said this; which I found unquestionably disarming. “I must thank you, although we’re not making progress, it helps me keep patience and focus...thank you”

I shrugged, holding out my hands. “Well, glad to be of service, your highness...I suppose”

He nodded, but said no more, as if the very act of venturing out a complement to another had been physically taxing for him. We both proceeded to watch the city brighten up in absolute silence, and I thought of all the stories that every single light of the city held. We were only a part of this, this whole world out there. Thousand many people, thousand many smiles, loved ones, dreams and hopes. To think that a mere intergalactic element could destroy it all over night, to think that the responsibility of stopping that from happening was in our hands...I honestly didn’t feel so good.

“The tesseract is out there, somewhere” I told him as a reminder, and he glanced down at me, yet he didn’t say a word. I suppose he felt the burden of its responsibility far more than I did.

He was quiet for a long while, almost as if he was lost somewhere out there in the vast world before us. And I, perhaps, was lost somewhere along the line of how beautiful he was. I was watching him, his reflection on the glass, a little hypnotized.

”It’s beautiful” He said after a while. His voice was gentle, thoughtful; I had never heard him speak like this before.

“It is…” I replied, almost unconsciously, and I didn’t realise that I was, in fact, staring at him as I replied. He didn’t seem to have noticed this. He remained quiet, his eyes hazy and focused ahead.

I pursed my lips, and then thought of him, his world, an alien in a place unknown, lost and stuck with a woman he probably couldn’t tolerate, a woman who, perhaps, was in love with how beautiful he was.

“How does it look like? Your world?” I asked him.

With the same hazy look in his eyes, he glanced at me and smiled. “It’s a lot of colours. But mostly gold, with tall mountains and buildings and waterfalls ...and then there is the bifrost, the rainbow bridge. It’s from there that gateways to other worlds would open”

“That’s where Heimdall is” I added uncertainly, and he clarified my thought with a nod. 

“Yes, it is where” Then silence.

I turned to face him, see all the emotions mirroring in his eyes. 

“Do you miss it? Asgard?”

It was at this point that he ripped his eyes off the city lights. He looked down at his clasped hands. 

“Beyond words” He replied.

“Then why did you leave?”

As soon as I asked him that, I regretted doing so. Nowhere in the history books did it say what happened to him, and I suppose it happened so recently that the historians probably had no idea that a god from their books had landed on earth. His lips remained in a firm line, his eyes focusing on his hands as he nervously fidgeted, picking at his palm with a thumb and index finger. It was a gesture that I hadn’t seen in him before.

“I didn’t leave” His voice was so low, almost a whisper. When he looked up at me, the smile on his lips, the look in his eyes was the most painful. I was rendered speechless for a while. I had never seen him in so much pain...so vulnerable. My heart pained at the sight of him and fought the urge to hold his hand.

“What...what happened?”

He was biting his lips, yet again picking at his hand. Perhaps, it was a story that he had never told anyone before, a story that he’d kept buried in his heart, burning and ripping him apart for so long. Loki never opened up to me, and I didn't suppose he did so to anyone. His strong and aggressive personality was only a facade, a wall built up to protect the gentleness, the pain and vulnerability that he always had, and somehow the walls have come intact, his true self just shielded by a thin sheen of fear. He just needed a little reassurance, and someone to put pressure on that thin sheen until it ripped apart.

I made up my mind. He needed this. I reached out and placed a hand on his arm. He looked at me, surprised, and I just gazed back at him, as warmly as I could.

And that did it. He told me everything.

I have read about his true parentage, but I never knew enough. I never knew how he came to learn about it, how he felt about it, just how painful it must have been for him. And at that moment, he told me everything that he felt; not in so many words, but his eyes were like mirrors, and I felt his sorrow, right in the core of my heart.

How cruel and torturous must it have been for him, growing up learning that his kind were heartless beasts, his father’s nemesis, the ones that he so proudly speak of defeating as a king; to know that after all of that, he never belonged to where he’d always thought he did. Loki’s eyes glistened with tears as he said all of this to me, although his words were full of spite and menace. All that I could feel was his pain. His hatred was understandable. He was too broken and fragile, and the only way that he could sustain himself was rage. He’d been told all his life that they were monsters, that they were to be surrendered and killed, and he, the king of Asgard had granted peace to his realm by doing just that. Loki, perhaps questioned his existence hundred million times. He told me of his brother Thor, how he had lived in the dark shadow of his greatness, and what I felt was his own powerlessness, and his own invalidity behind him. He told me of his father Odin, how he’d taken him as a mere token of solidarity between the two realms and how that enraged him to be used. What I understood was how perplexed and conflicted he must have felt about where he belonged; the two worlds,  one that he’d thought he belonged and loved beyond words, and the one he truly belonged and grew up despising, knowing them as giant, heinous monsters. He spoke of frigga, of how he always felt she had always known the truth and took the side of his father when he’d lied to him, telling him that his only intention was protection. What I heard from his breaking heart was that he loved her, despite everything, but still felt incredibly betrayed; that he missed her, no matter how he felt that he was not loved enough, and the blame on himself for not being good enough to be loved.

He told me of the mighty hammer, the power it wielded, the heir to the throne.He told me about the friends he’d had whom I felt had never seen his worth. He told me about the banishment, the conflicts and the battle for the crown, what he’d done in seek of validation, knowing too well that it was all wrong. He didn’t mean this, not in his words. But I could read right through him, and I empathized with him, with the fragility that he felt. If anything, rather than a god, a prince, an unworldly being, what I felt of him right then was a misunderstood child. A child so unloved and mistreated all his life, a child raised in a certain way that he lacked self esteem and confidence despite just how strong he might be. And finally a child raised full of hatred and disgust towards a race, that he couldn’t come into terms that he belonged to, that he turned against them in seek for validity and acceptance, only to be, yet again, cast away.

And he had wanted to go away, forever, disappear perhaps. He didn’t say so himself. “And I just let go” were his words, and I realised that it was not only the end of his father’s ‘Gugnir’ that he had let go of that night. 

Perhaps, after all this time, Loki just wanted to be heard. His anger, rage and even every single reason behind his invasion in New York was this; validation and love, and somebody who could understand him. There was probably a bigger picture behind it that he would probably never disclose. Even as he spoke, the spite, the menace and hatred that he showed was the only way that he could deal with his pain; and for that one moment, I didn’t see him as a god, or a prince, or a war criminal that had destroyed an entire city. He was just a misunderstood little boy, trying to find his place in this world. 

“Thor wouldn’t make a great king” He continued. Although it sounded as if he resented him, I could see the love and affection that he carried for his brother, evident in his eyes. “His arrogance and recklessness would lead our realm to ruins”

“Perhaps he’d not ready yet” I supplied. He glanced at me and shook his head. “He is, Thor is. He is strong and ambitious, he is a great warrior. But he would not make a great king of Asgard…”

By the way that he looked at me, I knew what the answer was. Loki thought that Thor would have made a better King on earth. His arrogance and impulsiveness would have suited the earth the better, whereas Asgard, his own world...perhaps, the other day, when he’d mentioned a King, a better King, it was Thor that he thought of. I wondered if I’d even change his mind about a king’s ruling here. Perhaps another time. Just not now.

“I do…” He mumbled, his voice trembling as he breathed. “I do love him, very dearly. And I do also understand that only one of us can be king…” A deep sigh, and he lifted his head to look at me. “But I...I am, and I should be rightfully a king. It is what I deserve. I deserve to rule, just as much as he does”

“Is that why you invaded us”

His eyes were hard and cold, glaring at me as he replied. “I wanted to hurt him”

“Your father”

“My brother” He finally looked away. “He loved the earth, he is in love with a Mortal and he would protect earth, he would protect her at any cost…and I envied him”

“Were you trying to hurt her?” I pried on. To this question, he did not reply; but his quietness seemed to speak volumes. He didn’t dare look at me, but he gazed out at the city again; I realised, right then, that there was a sheen of moisture in his eyes. Loki had never struck me as emotional in that aspect. But he proved me wrong. I had never seen a man more fragile and delicate in my life. He would never hurt her, no matter how vengeful he may sound. it was nothing more than a facade to shield his breaking heart.

“Would you ever return to your world?” I asked him after a long moment of quiet contemplation, and his eyes bore into mine. The look in them was unreadable. “If I did, father would imprison me. I’m a war criminal”

“Well, maybe you can talk to him about it. Tell him the truth and come to an understanding. You know, they’re your parents after all”

He was quiet for a moment, looking down at his hands. And then, all of a sudden, his dark, cold and resentful appearance was replaced with a smile; and this smile, he gave to me. “We don’t negotiate in the manner that you earthlings do…mortal” 

Embarrassed, I looked away.

“Father wouldn’t forgive me” Loki continued, his voice quiet but hard like thunder, his eyes set away. “He’s heartless and cruel. He’s a warrior, a ruler, he would only see as they do. He would see me a threat to the peace of his realm, he would lock me away” a moment of silence, and he laughed bitterly, scornfully, yet the sound for me was nothing but painful. “After all...after all, I did not belong there. I was not one of them. I would always be defined by the truth”

“The truth” I reiterated, unable to bear the pain of his voice anymore. He didn’t deserve it, not any of that. To be pushed and pulled around, neglected and unloved, labeled a war criminal, cast and locked away, thrown onto the back burner until someone would see his worth. He deserved so much more; a father who’d see his strength, a mother who loved him without restrictions, a brother who was his equal in every aspect so that he didn’t have to feel alone.

Loki looked down at me, and for one moment, I thought I saw hope in his eyes. “The truth” I repeated and moved closer to him. “Is that right now, you don’t need a throne, you don’t need a crown. not any of that. What you really, really need right now…” I leaned closer to him, purposefully stepping over his unspoken boundaries, my arms held up and my heart in my throat. “Is this” I whispered, and without once hesitating yet holding my breath, I placed both my arms around his shoulders and held him long in my embrace.

He was warm, unexpectedly so, and was rigid, his fists tightened, perplexed by my advances, on either side. He had a distinct scent, I noticed. Sweet, breezy, unworldly. It was nothing like I’ve ever felt before. And his hair brushed against my cheeks, it was soft to the touch. For that moment, I felt braver and stronger. Here was a man so broken and fragile, cast away, locked out and unloved, and here I was, trying to communicate to him every little emotion I couldn’t possibly say in words. For that moment,  wanted to protect him. I wanted to tell him that he no longer had to feel vulnerable, he no longer had to feel insecure, scared or unloved, for his heart, his fear, his existence were validated, and that he wouldn’t have to feel alone again.

“What are you doing?” Loki tried to pull away, hissing under his breath in surprise.

“I’m holding you” 

“Let go” He tried to pry me off; but to no avail for him, I held on for even longer. “You  _ needed _ this”

“No I do not” He tried again, but this time my hands tightened around his neck even further, and I buried my face in his shoulder. My eyes closed, and I breathed in his scent; it was beautiful, really. He felt nothing like an ordinary man that I have ever held. There was a gentleness in his rigid posture, as if he was worried he would hurt me, no matter how much he probably actually wanted to. There was befuddlement and sentiment, all in together which made him unable to respond. I wondered when the last time was for him to be held like this, or if he ever had been. And the thought itself encouraged me to hold him even longer.

“ _ You needed this _ ” I repeated against his shoulder, and this time, he didn’t reply. He didn’t move to make a movement, not to kill me, nor to hold me in return. It was almost as if he was rendered helpless by my affectionate gesture. After a while, I slowly detached myself from him, and looked up to meet his eyes. He seemed troubled, enraged, his jaw was set, eyes widened and bearing coldly into mind. I knew that I had probably stepped a line there. But at least he didn’t try to kill me, so that was fine. I smiled at him, patted on his arm and climbed up on my feet.

“Come on, your highness, we have plenty to do” I told him, and didn’t await him as I made way through the crowd, my face burning with heat, and my heart beating so uncharacteristically fast. That had to be the bravest, boldest move that I had ever made towards a man, and frankly, I wanted to burrow myself and die.

I stopped at the gummy stall then. I wanted a distraction, so I reached for a bag and started pouring handful of everything into it distractedly. While I did, I couldn’t help myself, I kept thinking about him. Never in my life had I felt anything like this. I felt as if I held not only a man, but a soul in my arms. I felt him, his pain, his fear, his unexpected gentleness, everything that the world seemed to have failed to see in him, and they all drove me crazy. I knew it was wrong to feel that way. I knew that I shouldn’t. But I also knew that I wanted him to be happy, for his pain to disappear in the ashes of his past and for the world to see how remarkably breathtaking he was; as a man, as a god, as a soul. And this made it all difficult to me. I wouldn’t acknowledge my feelings. Not until all this is done and over with. Not at all...but it was hard not to. their presence was bigger than I imagined.

And then I felt him approach and stand beside me. My hand froze. And I looked down, only to realize that the tonsils in my hand were taking a large amount of gummy love hearts.  _ love hearts _ .

with a yelp, I dropped it all back into the container. He didn’t say a word. Not one of his snarky remarks, no questioning what they were. After I made my purchase and after we’d made our way back down the high speed elevator, we stepped out into the patio, crowded with fellow patrons huddled together to fight the cold. My teeth chattered, my face felt numb in the wind, and I held my gummies against my chest in a stupid attempt to keep them warm.

“Is it  _ that _ cold?” Loki asked me, awakening his voice for the first time. He sounded gentle, and immediately, my heart picked up.

“I...I don’t really do well in the cold” I muttered through my chattering teeth.

Loki sighed, and I could almost feel him rolling his eyes. He was dramatic like that, with almost everything. And then soon, I felt something soft and warm against my cheek.

“Take this” He said, dropped his green scarf into my hands and he simply walked away.

There was no need to reiterate how my heart reacted at that moment. It thudded against my ribcage, a desperate little animal to break through. Loki just gave me his scarf, his godly, royal scarf and walked away, leaving me silly and gullible like a child. A real  _ tsundere _ he was. The cold, angry look in his eyes, all of that eye rolling and complaints were just a facade, nothing more.

I followed after him, wrapping the soft, silky scarf around me and I realised that instead of actually descending the tower, we had stopped somewhere in the middle, and here we were, facing the infamous love locks.

Loki stopped in front of thousands and millions of locks decorating the railings, all in their bright colors and untold stories. He nodded at them in interest. 

“What are those?”

I grinned. He was probably not going to like this. “Love locks. Come on!” I told him, grabbed the edge of his sleeve and dragged him along, feeling his hand in mine, fighting the urge to hold it, fighting the urge to feel him even more. I realised, with a pang, that I had made way to my feelings to emerge in an intensity so strong than I had imagined; would I allow them to continue, I might not even be able to stop myself, to stop the inevitable from happening.

  
  


Humans were the strangest being that he’d ever come across in thousands of years of his life. He’d met heinous monsters, creatures so hideous and powerless that took him not more than a glance to surrender. And then there were the humans; the kind of beings whom he wouldn’t even begin to understand.

Just a couple of days ago, he’d learned of humans that voluntarily perished themselves. He had thought it was madness, it was cruel; that the earth itself was chaotic and lawless. And then tonight, he learned that star crossed lovers of earthlings secured their affection in a padlock, locked it in, hung it on a railing of a tower on a mountain, all in hopes that their love would last forever. There was love and there was war in equally perplexing forms, and everything that he’d thought he’d known about love and war didn’t seem to matter anymore.

And then, on top of that, there were humans who showed affection to the individuals who threatened to cut them and let them die. Loki wouldn’t think about it, he’d stop thinking about it, he’d discard every fragment of memory he had of that moment into an abyss where they’d never be able to resurface, as if that moment never happened at all…

But only, he couldn’t.

As the mortal trembled in the cold that he couldn’t even feel, all that Loki could think about was the warmth of her embrace. He’d been held like that before, numerous times; but only, it had been his mother, Frigga. And he didn’t think there would ever come a time when he’d be able to be in her embrace again. He hated to feel like this, so hungry and desperate for affection that any moment he received any would have him reeling undone, asking for more. The moment she’d held him, the moment she’d been in such a proximity; a woman with all her softness and gentle charms, she had settled something uncomfortable inside him, like a seed, unnecessary and burdenful that kept growing inside him. It was a strange emotion, one that he couldn’t quite put his fingers on. Was it need? Was it fear? He glanced over at the mortal for one second, saw her smile, her face so round and strangely entrancing that reminded him of the moon, and then he turned away. 

If Loki would be completely honest, this just didn’t feel very good. 

She had brought him to the lines and lines of padlocks.  _ Love locks _ , she called them; something so banal and superfluous, the  _ basest sentimentality _ which set all the right orders amiss. Loki didn’t believe in freedom, he didn’t believe in love. He had lived thousands of years not having felt the existence or the presence of them, not knowing their worth, their passion, not knowing what they felt like. And for this reason, he believed, they did not exist at all.

But humans, his mortal, specifically, seemed to believe otherwise.

“You know what we should do?” She asked him quietly, and he could do nothing more than raise his brows. He couldn’t even begin to get upset. His mind, for the first time ever, was not in peace.

“Let's put a lock” She replied.

A lock, a love lock. He did not, not at all, appreciate what the simple gesture insinuated. It was a vacuous idea, if anything. It had no purpose, made no sense. Despite all the good reasons, however, the mortal was dead set on doing this. Before he could even word out his protest, the mortal had gone on her way, his favorite scarf wrapped around her small frame, spending her funds on things she absolutely did not require.

“Right” She said, holding the padlock in her hand. It was a bright color, almost hurting his eyes just by looking at it under the white light, in a shape he couldn’t quite recognize. “Hold this” She held out her bag of brightly colored food, and he, without a word, complied. She looked at him and narrowed her eyes. “Any chance that you have a permanent marker with you?”

He sighed. “Do I look like I would?”

“Of course”

She just wasn’t giving up. She went to a fellow patron, a young pair who had their own padlock in hand and borrowed their pen herself. She returned to him with a little skip in her walk as he stood exactly where she left him, the bag of strange, vibrant colored food in his hand.

“What do you want to write?”

“I’d rather not” He replied curtly.

“You’re such an old fart”

He hardly knew what that meant; he took offence nevertheless. It sounded derogatory to him. “Hey!”

The mortal ignored him and balanced the padlock in one hand. With handwriting strangely clear and precise, she worked on its plastic surface, her words slowly coming to life.  _ ‘Loki, the prince of Asgard and Momo the princess of Missus Lee’s rooftop were here’  _

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He questioned her.

“I thought you could read” She returned. He didn’t reply as he simply rolled his eyes.

“We should leave a mark wherever we go” Said the mortal as she fingered through the rows of padlocks on the railing.

“No, we must be looking for the Tesseract” He reminded her. She seemed to find the perfect spot for the padlock that she served him with a smile instead.

“I’m aware” She replied, and gently pushed the padlocks lining the row, making space. He just watched her, not bothering to reply.

“You know what we’re doing now?” She asked him then, giving him just a glance.  He narrowed his eyes in response.

“We, your highness” She started, and clasped the lock on the railing. It glimmered vibrant among the others like a beacon, a reminder.. “Are living the moment the best when everything’s not right”

He didn’t reply, because for that moment, he had to give it to her for the last statement she made. Everything was not right, everything was amiss. The tesseract was gone, nowhere in sight, nowhere in a distance to be felt. He should be out there, searching for it, searching for his own chance of redemption and validity as the king that he’d always been. But things, ever since he landed here, ever since he ended up in that rooftop, didn’t seem to go just as he planned. He was stuck with a woman who’s thoughts confused him, in a land called Soul where people jumped to their deaths and secured their love in an iron padlock. She was correct. Nothing was right. 


	8. 7: The monster’s goad

The next morning, the two of them were at what only seemed like a historic barricade to him. He’d seen plenty of these palaces back when he’d come here in the past; but things have changed so drastically that the elements of both the present and the past were in a fusion, creating a different reality altogether. The Gwanghwamun gate was the main entrance to the Gyongbokgung palace, the one that’s been used by the kings and the officials in the time of Chosun Dynasty. As the kings no longer ruled and as Gyongbokgung now stands as a much loved tourist attraction, the Gwanghwamun gate remains open for the general public to view, so as the palace, the three arched gates open to a vast open ground surrounded by strong, tall walls. Inside was no paradise, but its best viewed in the night or at the time of the Guards change. 

Behind them, the city remained with high rising buildings and impeccable roads, vehicles whizzing by and people walking the streets, engrossed in the devices in hand. In front of them stood the gate, high and magnificent, and a bunch of people in seemingly decorative dresses, similar to what he’d seen in the past in style; but in colors, too flashy to have come from the past. Loki was confused, hot and bothered. And he felt absolutely nothing close to the presence of the Tesseract.

“Do we need to buy tickets?” The mortal was looking around herself in exhilaration, and glanced over at the guards, by whom people just passed. “Oh no, we don’t”

“I don’t understand” Loki started, burying his hands  in his pockets. “If I don’t feel it in here, why do we need to go inside?”

The mortal looked at him, almost distractedly. “What if its powers are guarded or something? Or if its not alive? We can never be too sure”

He didn’t reply to that. It was a fair point, he had to give her that. But still, he wasn’t in the mood to enter this place, at least not in broad daylight, and especially not now. It appeared as if the people visiting this place was having a costume party. Almost everyone was dressed in similar dresses, the men in what seemed like tunics and top hats, like from the times of the kings. And standing among them, they just seemed...out of the place. And no matter how far out of place Loki actually was, to this world, he simply didn’t find it comfortable, being here.

“Look, Momo-,”

The mortal, her eyes widened, turned to face him. “Wait, what? Did you just say my name?”

“Yes” He sighed. “I-,”

“How come you do now?”

He shrugged. “I read it, on your social security card”

“Oh…” She appeared so delighted, as if the simple action of being called by her name was the single best thing to happen to her. He really couldn’t bear with her infinite amount of happiness, and in the most unexpected moment. It was too much for him. He just rolled his eyes.

“Listen, we must come at night, there are people here-,”

“So what?” She made a face, as if in disbelief. “If it's in here, then fine, we’ll take it and go, even if it isn’t, no problem”

He sighed for the umpteenth time for the day. “I don’t think you see the point” He turned to her impatiently. “There are people. In  _ dresses _ ”

She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t see a problem in that”

The fact that she didn’t see a problem was exactly the problem they had. If anything, they could be wasting their time. The Tesseract could be anywhere, and perhaps even in the wrong hands. They could just visit anywhere else but here for the moment, and perhaps he could teleport back here if it was necessary. They were on the line, here. And that was what she didn’t understand.

“Look, we’ll go in real quick, check it out, then leave” The mortal finally filled the silence, and it was only then that he could finally breathe in peace. 

“Fine” 

They proceeded to cross the road towards the entrance, its massive walls coming closer and standing magnificent against the warm spring sun. The cherry blossom trees lining the sidewalk had stained the pathway in pink, the sweet scent of the flowers wafting in the breeze. They were almost by the entrance; but they couldn't go too far. 

“Miyawaki! Hey!”

_ Brilliant _ . Loki rolled his eyes as the Mortal’s face lit up delightfully. She paused mid-track and glanced up at him, hands on her face. “Oh my god! It’s Jason!”

“I’m not your god” He sighed, but she’d already ignored him at this point and was skipping her way to her little friend. Helpless and exhausted, Loki folded his arms on his chest and just waited, watching their childish exchange.

Loki didn’t really have the best judgement in people, and that had often put him into trouble; but that wasn’t to say that his instincts weren’t at all reliable. He had a hunch, a hunch about the friend of hers, and it wasn’t rubbing him the right ways. Loki had lived his entire life, tricking and lying and creating illusions in other minds. It wasn’t hard so hard to read a person, interpret every single movement they made. And this boy, he was difficult to understand. Frankly, he didn’t like it. He didn’t like it at all.

“Hey, Its doctor Stark!”

Loki, without a word, rolled his eyes. There was no point in fixing the damage now. And if anything, being called Stark made him feel insulted.

Jason was accompanied by another friend of his, a girl, both dressed in the attire of the times of the kings. As soon as she saw the other girl, Momo’s face evidently darkened. Loki knew from the beginning that her little love for this man was not going to end up well. He could only roll his eyes and shake his head.

Jason and the girl approached them hand in hand, and he detached himself from her the moment he saw Momo’s darkened face, smiling and acting like nothing happened.

“Hey, I didn’t expect to see you guys” Jason looked at him awkwardly and gave Momo a smile. “Taking him on a visit, are you?”

“Yeah…” Momo replied, her enthusiasm from before had diminished. She looked at the pair of them, her eyes inquisitively taking in their rather flamboyant attire. “So um...why is everyone…?” She gestured at his clothes.

“Oh this” He looked down at his clothes himself. “Well, it’s King Sejong day at college so everyone is wearing the Hangbok and celebrating”

Momo looked around herself, at all the people in the said attire, all except for herself. “What, everyone?”

“Well, everyone is wearing Hanboks. Why aren’t you wearing yours?”

Momo made a face. “I don’t have one”

Loki, watching the whole exchange, standing quietly to a side did not at all appreciate meeting the two in a crucial moment. He considered the benefits of leaving Momo behind to her own bearings, to spend her time with the person she was so smitten by. For some reason, however, he couldn’t bring himself to. And he didn’t know his way around here. He couldn’t leave, not until he was certain the tesseract wasn’t in there.

“You can actually hire one” Said Jason, pointing the other way of the street. “Come on, I know a place”

“Uh, I-,” Momo looked up at Loki as if to ask for his permission. He wanted to tell her that they had better things to do, that they simply hadn’t the time. They were  _ pressing  _ of time, the world was in balance and the responsibility of it was in their hands. But then, he saw the desperate look in her eyes. Momo wanted it, she wanted it like she wanted all the senseless things she had indulged on every single one of their escapades. She wanted to be in one of those dresses and actually fit in. Loki knew what it felt like not to, and he, for a moment empathized with her. He groaned inwardly, hating himself for giving in. Momo wanted her silly, childish happiness; but what was it for him?

“Go on” Loki found himself saying. His mind wanted to stop her, but his heart didn’t let him to. 

“Really? Are you serious?”

He rolled his eyes and didn’t reply. This, Momo seemed to take as his seal of approval, made a little squeak in delight and thanked him as if he held all the responsibility over her. In fact, he wanted to stop her, his mind wanted to stop her, to scold her and drill sense into her. But then, his heart seemed to have a mind of its own.

“Then stay here a minute, will be right back!”

Before he could even form a verbal response, Momo was gone, disappearing among the crowd and hurried on her feet, seemingly having forgotten the task that they had in hand. For a few minutes, Loki walked back and forth in front of the gate, waiting. He hated waiting, he hadn’t the sheer patience that’s required for waiting. Not once in his visits on earth had he wasted time like he’d done in this occasion around. But with the mortal, everything was different. He couldn’t be his truest self around her, lest she refused to take part in his quest. And he couldn’t possibly continue without her, unless he wanted to be lost in a world so vast he knew no end nor beginning of. His initial plan had been to redeem himself for all the crimes he’d done, escape with the tesseract to a different realm and from there take the power to his own hands. But slowly, things have begun to change. He didn’t know why, he didn’t know how, he didn’t know what. But they had.

The mortal seemed to be taking her sweet time. They couldn’t be far, as there seemed to be more and more people emerging in dresses from where they disappeared to. He stared at the way they went, trying to catch even a glimpse of them. But had he looked even closer, he would have seen it, the hooded figure in a far, clocking in his presence in the crowd;  _ a god, an unworldly creature, lost in a place that he didn’t belong. _

It was subtle in the beginning; the tremble of the ground beneath. The others around him didn’t even seem to notice, but with his heightened senses, Loki felt it first before everyone. The ground shook, just a little in the beginning, but slowly, the frequency seemed to increase. Loki looked down at the ground underneath; the pressure did not come from the core, but something on the surface, something above.

“Damn” He muttered to himself, and narrowed his eyes, looking towards where the tremble seemed to come from. It was the square, somewhere around the massive bronze statue in the middle of the street. Men, women and children, all in similar dresses walked in their own pace along the path, completely unperturbed. They did not feel it, the tremble of the earth. Not for now, at least. Given the strength and the frequence that they came along, he realised that it wouldn’t be long.

It was a force; a greater force. Not an earthquake, that would have come from underneath. But a force so powerful that it went beyond the human senses yet reached him. It was a force that went beyond human control. Something inhuman. Something powerful. And something, with great possibility, he should fear.

The tremble grew harder and harder, came closer and closer, and Loki took a few steps back, bracing himself. This did not happen for the past few days that they’d been in search for the tesseract. He could come into only one conclusion from this, one that he wished he didn’t want to think about. _ ‘The tesseract’ _

He was right. It had ended up in someone's possession; someone that he’d never known.

It took less than a minute to emerge; first a mere trace, a shadow, just an invisible shape in the thin air. Slowly, it started to take form, to make sound, be noticed by the humans around. Soon, it stood before him in the middle of the street, rising so high that it covered the sun;  _ the monster. _

Soon, the entire town was in pandemonium. The police and the security immediately jumped into action as the people started to scatter around, screaming and taking cover, running for their lives. Loki stood amongst all of them, having seen and battled even worse monsters, calculating his next move.

If anything, in the crowd, with so many lives at risk, he couldn’t fight it alone. It was obvious that it had come for him. He was possibly the only one in this place who could battle such a creature, and there was no other reason why it would appear before him. It was bigger than the hulk, he realised, an amalgam of several different animals he could recognise. A face of an elephant, dirty greyish scaly skin with fur of a bear. It’s long trunk swept the ground beneath him, everything scattered to the ground by its strength. Loki clenched his hands on the either sides, bracing himself. He had to fight it, but a battle would put so many lives at risk. Before anything, he had to protect the civilians.

He walked over to the three arched entrance of the gate where security were lined up, their guns held up while people entered the gates in a flurry. He had to get as many as people inside, secure them close. Loki immediately got into action; for the first time in his life, he was protecting mortals from harm.

“Everyone inside, now!” He exclaimed, approached the guards and yelled over the screams, instructing them to first get the people safely inside.

“Why should we take orders from you?” Yelled back the guard. Loki had no time nor the patience to reply, so he just flicked his hand and the gun fell off the guards hand. The guard looked up, terrified, and that gesture itself encouraged him to follow his orders. So did the others. Loki left the job to the guards and moved forward, pushing through the crowd.

And as he did, he changed his form. His black and gold armour replaced his human attire, the capes flapping in the wind. His head gear felt heavy but secure above him, the horns rising up magnificently; his only shield of protection. He stepped towards the monster, as close as he could get as the creature continued to attack everything in sight with its large trunk. As it reached for a lamp post nearby, where a pair of young men hovered by, Loki flicked his hand towards them and sent the two flying back. It must have left them shocked, perhaps with a few minor injuries. But at least they didn’t end up crushed to the ground.

His gesture, somehow, caught the creature’s attention. It turned towards him and swung its large trunk, sweeping everything in the vicinity off the ground. Loki knew what this creature was. He had come across it in the time of the kings, trying to destroy people and entire towns with just its massive feet and trunk. It fed on iron, grew larger and larger as it fed more and more. Named losely after the terms ‘ _ Can’t kill _ ’, there was only one way that it could be destroyed; and that was fire.

The creature  _ ‘Bulgasari’ _ was foolish by nature. It wouldn’t approach a prey on its will; at least, not the creature that he had known. So it was evident, the creature’s arrival had to be manipulated. It had not come for him, or to kill and destroy. it was here as an ambush; to threaten him and lure him to a much greater and powerful force.

And there was one thing who would steer one in that direction. Whatever this powerful force was, it had the Tesseract in hand. 

The creature was now surrounded by the police, holding their fire out. There were more incoming, vehicles laden with army officers and all sorts of mercenary that wouldn’t possibly destroy it. He didn’t think there was anything that they could do. But at least he wouldn’t fight this alone.

Rather than killing, the creature tried to grow even bigger and stronger. It reached out for the guns of the police, and although the officers remained, undeterred, they easily let go of their armour, allowing the creature to devour them ,and slowly, it grew bigger.

“Oh for heaven’s sake!” he muttered under his breath. He had to stop it from growing stronger. Besides, this was his battle. The animal was here for  _ him  _ to destroy.

“Go, put your guns down!” He yelled as he hurried towards the men. “Don’t let it have them, he’s growing stronger!”

The men immediately cocked the guns at him, and he had no choice. He created multiples of himself, and each of them proceeded to rid of the officers and the gun. They'd do their job for now; at least keep the creature from growing. Meanwhile, Loki lifted a nearby bus, now void of passengers, just by the force of his powers and sent it crashing against the animal. It soon turned to him, and he tossed the bus far away against the building so that the creature couldn’t reach.

“Who sent you?” He screamed at it. The creature was foolish. Perhaps a lot more than the hulk. There was no point in asking. 

And just as he imagined, the creature responded by crashing its trunk on the ground. He rolled his eyes. “Well, of course” He sighed. He couldn’t have expected anything less. He walked towards the creature, holding its attention. He could do that. He could easily keep the mind of a creature so dull completely focused on him. “Whatever it is, it's foolish to send you to me. An agent of destruction; and for what? If it's a war that they need, they must face me head on, like a warrior”

He stepped towards the creature and summoned his knives. There wasn’t much that he could do with them, only except serving an ambush himself. Comparing to Thor or his father, his physical powers were limited. But that wouldn’t stop him from fighting a creature so intellectually challenged, sent to ambush him, summon him to war.

He sent the two knives flying through the wind and slicing through the legs of the creature. The knives returned to him, and he sent them out yet again, continuously attacking it. As he did, he kept talking. There was no question that the sender could hear. There would be no other purpose to this dangerous gamble.

“You’re foolish to think that destroying the town would make any difference” He growled, walking on. “You’re foolish to think that it would bring  _ me _ to you” The creature thrashed and moved, its trunk swinging in every direction, destroying everything around him. He lifted cars, lorries and buses in his vicinity, only by manipulating the pressure in the air, and they came crashing against the creature, driving it even more insane. His plan was to exhaust it all the while he kept it from devouring anymore metal, The tireder it grew, the stronger Loki himself could be. And the stronger he would be, the chances of the creature’s handler appearing would heighten. It was all a plan of chained reactions. 

“You have no idea what you’re challenging here” with his growl, he summoned the multiple illusions of him and surrounded the creature. Exhausted and confused, the creature started to attack every one of his illusions, which disappeared and appeared somewhere else. It was difficult for it to find the true form of him. Every time it tried, he was standing somewhere else. The trunk trashed and the creature growled, trying to reach metal to devour and heighten its energy. But Loki continued to exhaust it even more; he carried on, manipulating his entire surrounding with his magic and illusions, putting all the powers he had. He continued, all until the creature screamed in exhaustion from the knives, the objects crashing against him and multiples of the god surrounding him. Finally, it crashed onto the ground. And it was when the party started.

“You have no idea what you’re trying to destroy!”

He laughed condescendingly, and the creature looked down at him, its red eyes troubled and exhausted, on the verge of giving up. It looked almost innocent, pleading. But nothing could stop what he had planned next.

“I’m a  _ god _ , you insolent fool!”

And with that, he created it,  a massive fire, rising ablaze. The fire surrounded it, the loud crackle as it destroyed was overpowered by the scream of the animal, and the collective cries of the crowd. It devoured the creature in whole, burning it to the ground; the flames rising high above to the size of the buildings surrounding them. Loki couldn’t help but cackle in delight. He knew that he was yet to defeat the true contender. But still, he hadn’t done this before, and it's succession satisfied him. He stood back, watching as the animal burned, and perished ablaze.

  
  
  


The hooded man, hidden somewhere among the chaos of the crowd, smiled triumphantly as the middle of the street burnt down. He had its attention, the attention of the god. They were so easy; with their ego, their arrogance and contempt. They were so easy to lure towards him. It wasn’t long until he had the god under his control. And with the most powerful element in the universe at hand, it was not long before the entire world fell on their knees before him.

  
  


The moment that I left Loki by himself, I knew it was going to be trouble. It was only a little nagging feeling in the beginning, seeing him standing there on his own, an odd sore thumb among the crowd. He was not in that particular disposition of killing, but he indeed was unpredictable, dangerous, a  _ god _ . And given that it was Loki, the trickster with a mind of his own, I should have known he always meant trouble.

The town, as I left, was at absolute peace. It was beautiful, the streets littered with cherry blossoms, and everywhere I looked was a girl in a Hanbok, their vibrant colors glimmering in the warm spring sun. I couldn’t wait to get myself in one of them. I wouldn’t be as beautiful, but at least it felt good; satisfying. It would be different from the  _ Kimono _ or the  _ Yugata _ that I was quite used to, from my childhood. And for a moment, it wouldn’t be just me.

Loki wasn’t going to appreciate it, I was certain. 

Ever since that unprecedented hug on top of the Nseoul tower, Loki had been acting a little milder around me. I was not sure what I had ignited inside him, whether that actually resurfaced a gentler side of him. Or perhaps, after our conversation, he was preoccupied. It was a possibility, given that he had opened up under the influence of his own sentiments. I had taken advantage of it when I had pleaded for his approval for this. It's quite stupid, when you come to think of it. He was the one who landed on my rooftop out of nowhere and threatened to kill me. No matter how dangerous he possibly could be, he had no control over me. But then again, I felt the need to, given that he and I were a team now. We were in this together, and if I were to step away from the quest even for a moment, well then…

But I really shouldn’t have. I realised this much, much later.

The place Jason’s friend owned was one of the many places in the Gwanghwamun square that offered Hanboks for rent. You could get one for a lesser price and wear them just for the photos in a backdrop. For a relatively higher price, you could wear one for a few hours and walk around the Gwanghwamun square. I knew that I had very little money on me, but I didn’t want to appear helpless in front of Jason and his friend. It was bad enough that she was accompanying him. No matter how sweet and kind he’d been around me, I was still vary. I couldn’t help myself. I liked Jason; very, very much. And there was this beautiful girl with nicest almond eyes and a tinkle of a smile. I couldn’t stop thinking that she was there to steal him from me.  

I tried  to find the prettiest Hanbok of the lot. There was a variety to choose from. The queen, the bride, the princess; all designed in the traditional style while there was a separate lot, more beautiful and elegant, a little more of a modernized touch. It took me a while to locate the best, with the two store keepers trying to match the skirt and the blouse to its respective colors. In the end, I settled for a red net and sequined skirt, a pearly white rose-embossed top and a head dress to match. It was quite a feat, dressing up. At the end of it all, I stared down at myself in the mirror, the dress so heavy and beautiful around me, its red a deep contrast to my pale skin. Even if I wasn’t beautiful, for a moment, I felt like it.

And I couldn’t wait for Loki to see me like this. I am guessing he’d just roll his eyes, given that he’s a prince. He probably had a beautiful girlfriend princess back at home, although he hadn’t mentioned it. Not that I considered possibilities or anything.

Jason stared at me as I stepped out of the dressing room, and the look in his eyes was enough for me. He looked baffled, as if he hadn’t expected me quite like this. My hair wasn’t long as his friend’s so I just let it down and one of the girls fixed the head band upon me. I looked nothing like a korean princess. But still, it felt good.

“Wow” Went Jason, and I met his eyes in the mirror. He was gazing at me, something completely different in his eyes. I was far from hitting jackpot with him, obviously. Jason was a far catch. But still, I wished, I wished I shook even the slightest thread of his heart.

“You look...beautiful…” He muttered as we descended the stairs, stepping out of the store. I felt my face heating up, and our proximity didn’t really help much. It was the first time that I was hearing a compliment from a man, and to be hearing it from Jason, the one who held my heart,  well, I’d say it's an experience that I would forever relive.

“Thanks...I guess?” I muttered awkwardly, holding up my skirt as we walked.

“Aren’t you glad that we met today?” He continued as we approached the street. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have tried this. I’m sure”  His eyes narrowed at the bright sun above as he smiled, and his friend assumed her place beside him. I tried not to be deterred, neither by his smile, nor by her presence.

“Well, you can say that” I replied.

“Doctor Stark doesn’t look like he would appreciate doing this” He added. And at this point, I stopped walking. I suppose I had a little clarification to make there. But what? What would I say? That I had been living with a dangerous god from outer space who had landed on my rooftop after putting an entire city into ruins?

I couldn’t. I simply couldn’t.

“Is everything alright?” Jason peered at me, and I smiled in return, trying to appear reassuring, and he seemed to have bought it as he just smiled back.

We walked on quietly for a while, the path ahead of us scattered with cherry blossoms, and me feeling excited at how pretty and perfect everything was. Even for a while, I was in a beautiful princess-like dress, walking with the boy that I loved, basking in the beauty if the spring and quite strangely, on my way to meet the prince who was possibly waiting for me.

“So” Jason caught up with me and he fixed the shirt of his own royal attire. “Did you work out that thing with Professor Yoon?”

I was so caught up with my inner monologue that it took me a while to understand what it meant. And naturally, my heart stopped.  _ Shit. _ Professor Yoon and that whole thing with Loki and his faux humanity. I stared at Jason for any sign of trouble, but all that I can see was curiosity and general interest; nothing more.  _ Professor Yoon hadn’t told him. _

“Oh! That, umm ...” I cleared my throat and tucked my hair behind my ear. “Well...doctor Stark...figured it out” I replied vaguely.

“I’m sure he did” Jason laughed. And silence.

I glanced up at him, reveled at the sight of how the spring sun fell upon his fine features and wondered what it would be like to have him as my boyfriend one day. He was smart and handsome and he was really sweet with girls although I didn’t understand what his connection was with this friend of his. Although she was quiet for the most part, she didn’t seem troubled whatsoever by our exchange. After all, it was King Sejong day at university for him, perhaps a classmate? Then did that mean there was any possibility between us?

All of a sudden, Loki’s voice returned to my mind.  _ ‘Let go, he will break your heart’ _

Jason did not look like he would. He caught my eyes and he smiled at me; that itself was equivalent to sunshine. He was perfect; Jason. He wasn’t one to break any hearts. What would Loki know anyway? He was a god and things in his world were different. I had no reason to trust his judgement.

The three of us stopped walking for a while, and Jason’s friend saw a bunch of her own friends across the street.

“Hey, do you mind if I joined them?” She asked in a small, meekly voice. My heart stopped for a while. If she did, that meant Jason and I could be alone.

“Yeah, sure” Jason said, giving her a smile. I watched their exchange, trying to trace if there was anything more than a friendship there. But the girl seemed more eager to join her friends than being with us. She quickly waved us goodbye and we waited until she crossed the road. Once she was gone, I realised that my heart had started beating erratically fast.

“So?” Jason buried his hands in his pockets.

“So?” I repeated, but my heart was dancing in my ribcage like an animal struggling to break through. 

Jason took a step back and held out a hand. “Shall I escort you, princess Miyawaki?”

_ Princess? Escort?  _ For a moment I thought I was going to combust.

“Of course” I squealed, and he laughed as he took my hand.

And all the way as we walked, I kept telling myself, he was just being a friend, that we were just playing. But deep inside, I was speculating things. I wanted us to escalate to something more, something stronger. This wordless game of ‘friends-or-not’ was frustrating me, and I wanted nothing more than to talk about it.

Why wouldn’t he just ask me out, really? We’ve known each other for months now, and all we’ve always been was friends. Why couldn’t we be something more? What was so bad about me?

Perhaps, I should just consult Loki about it too, although he would probably have one of his mean and politely rude remarks to say.

“This is nice” Jason said, his warm hand loosely clasping mine. I dared to glance at him once, he returned the gesture. I looked down at my feet, my face heating up. “We should have done this before”

“Do you think?” I asked, braving myself. Perhaps, the reason why we never escalated was because we never talked about it. And perhaps, it was about time that we did.

He gazed down at his feet, and he nodded. “It's-its great…” He sighed, and he was smiling as he looked ahead. “This is great”

I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came out. My heart had constricted, and in my mind, I was repeating his words. For a moment, I wanted to abandon Loki by the gate to find the thing by himself and run off with Jason to wherever he would take me.

“Do you really think so?” I muttered, and glanced down as his hands tightened around mine.

“I should have told you about this before, so we could have come together…” Silence. “Spent some more time together…”

“Oh…”  _ Oh.... _ I was on the verge of hyperventilating and also screaming my lungs out at the same time. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but I sure as hell did like it. Very, very much.

“But you have to get back to Doctor Stark, right?” He asked me gently, and it was only then that I realised that we had stopped walking, but we were still holding hands. What was happening?

I wanted to find out.

“He...he can manage on his own” I told him, almost to desperately and certainly not thinking it through.

Jason took a step towards him, straight into the sunlight, and I loved it how it fell into his eyes and made them glimmer like little amber pools. “Really? I mean, wouldn’t he be mad?”

“Maybe” I giggled nervously, and then shrugged. “But he would be okay”

Jason pursed his lips. “Well, maybe we should ask him”

I didn’t understand why we needed his permission to do everything. Maybe because he was older, although Jason obviously didn’t know that he was one thousand years old. But still, I agreed. “Yeah, maybe we should”

As we held hands again, it was different from before. I felt a spark, a tiny little spark that I wanted to trust completely to grow into something more. Jason didn’t say it in so many words, but perhaps, he wanted to be with me too. We’d been friends for a long time. Although it was a casual friendship, there were so many things that we had in common. The path ahead of us was uncertain and scary, and it was unbelievable that he wanted to even have anything to do with me.  _ With me _ . Surreal, even, that I didn't want to think of it any further until everything was established, until I knew the truth.

As we proceeded, however, things started to seem different. From afar, there was a loud banging and crashing, and all of a sudden, people screaming. Before I could even register what was happening, people started to run in the opposite direction, almost as if something was following on suite. For a moment, we stood still, being pushed back by those who mindlessly ran past us. 

“What the fuck?” Jason muttered, and his grasp on my hand tightened. He looked at me. “What’s going on?”

Honestly, at that moment I wished I hadn’t an answer. But the worst thing was, I actually did. Not the specifics, but I had a fair idea; and it had everything to do with a god.

“Oh shit” I said and picked up my skirt. It was sad, really. I had to let go of his hand. I had my responsibilities calling for me.

“Miyawaki, what are you doing?” He yelled, holding me back, and I couldn’t help myself, I stopped and gently pushed his hand off me. “I have to go”

“What do you mean go? There is something happening, we should leave!”

“I can’t” I gasped, making it to move, but he held me back even harder. “Come on, we should go!”

“But…” I stopped and looked over at the way that people were running from. Whatever that was, it was dangerous, devastating. I didn’t know what it could possibly be, but I had to be there,  _ I had to. _

Slowly, feeling my heart breaking inside, I detached my hand from him. “I really have to go”

Jason reached out and caught me again. “Then I’m coming with you”

I had no choice, nor the time to waste. It wasn’t like I had anything to do there, not anything within my power. I had not a clue what was happening, but I brought Loki here, and whatever he did was entirely my responsibility.

Pushing through the crowd, lifting my skirt, I ran the way that the people came from. Soon the Gwanghwamun gate was within my sight, bustling with crowd and armed men standing on guard. It took me a while to realize that I had somehow lost Jason in the swarm of people. I hadn’t the time to search for him, and I was pretty sure he would find me. For now, finding Loki was more imminent than finding him.

It wasn’t long before I saw him, Loki. And the sheer destruction before me had me frozen on my tracks. It couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes that I had left him on his own, and so many things seemed to have happened within that short span of time. In the middle of  the square was a massive fire, the dark and raging flames rising high above the ground. And in the middle of that ring of fire, a massive animal, a weird form of a  _ Godzilla _ and perhaps the most horrendous thing that I had ever seen.

I felt faint, without knowing the heads and tails of what had happened. And through the haziness of my eyes, I saw him standing amongst it all in his golden armour and glory. What on earth had he done? Where did the animal come from? So many questions, and the initial shock had me so bad that I was on the verge of collapsing. But still I had to get to Loki before he could make any more damage. I was part responsible for what he had done.

“Loki!” I screamed as I stepped through the crowd. Behind me, by the gate, a guard was yelling at me to stop. But I moved even further. “Loki!”

Yet, before I could move even further, a hand wrapped around my waist, and I screamed, my feet tripping. I fell against someone’s chest, into their arms. For a moment, I thought it was Jason that had found me. But I was wrong. 

“Ssh!” A hiss in my ear, and I pushed back with a gasp.

“Wha-?” I glanced behind me, and then up at what I had before me. I suppose I was concussed. I looked back and forth, on the verge of insanity. Loki was behind me in his god form, and another Loki was before me in his human form. I had had enough dealing with one god. But as it happened, in the time I was gone, he had  _ multiplied _ .

He sighed. “Come on” 

He put his arm around my waist then, and soon, there was the wind, there was that familiar shift; I was pressed against his chest, my face in his shirt. I hadn’t even the time to catch my breath, and he was all over me. It wasn’t even ten seconds before he pushed me away, and we were still in the crowd but far away from where the animal and the fire was. I simply hadn’t the sheer mental and physical capacity to tolerate the sudden turn of events that I fell against a wall nearby. Loki caught me by my arm, and I held out a hand to say I was okay. He moved away. And I straightened up. I needed answers.

“What the hell happened?”

He looked at me, mouth pursed. Then he looked to his either sides. “Not here”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t give me that right now, your highness, you burnt a whole city down and...and” I gestured at the general direction of the square. “There was a monster and fucking  _ two of you! _ What the hell, Loki!?”

He moved closer to me and hissed in response; “It wasn’t real”

“What wasn’t real? The fire? The whole city is literally in ruins!”

“Most of it...and I  _ know _ ” He said, and he looked straight into my eyes. There was something hard and grave about them, as if he was trying to pass onto me something, a secret that he couldn’t put into words. Slowly, it dawned to me. The monster. The fire. I didn’t know which of it was real and which of it was not. But there was something that was crystal clear.  It hadn’t been him who had ruined the city. It was Loki trying to protect it.

“Oh... _ oh god _ ” I muttered, feeling faint once more. It was messed up, all so messed up. I fell against the wall once more.

“I think we’ve found it” Loki put my fears into words.

“Yeah…” I breathed, my heart beating so hard, by fear or excitement, I couldn’t tell. “I think so too”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So given the context of the story, the mythical creatures would be based on eastern mythology.   
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> Comments would be much appreciated!


	9. 8. In the hands of a deity

It took him several attempts to make the mortal believe that except for the monster lying on the ground, everything else was illusory. He hadn’t cast a massive, tangible illusion of such magnitude for a long while, and it was almost impossibly satisfying that everyone refused to believe it as illusion but real. It was more of _'make believe_ ' than making it actually happen; the same went for the victims as well as bystanders. It was too much detail to explain, but that was what it was. There was no fire, there weren’t doubles and triples of him. It was all a lie.

It’s been a couple of minutes since the incident, and they still haven’t quite moved away from the site. For one, he wanted to be around the area in case the real contender would make itself present and second off, well, the mortal had to return her princess dress. It was a shame, rather. She looked quite beautiful in it.

When she’d come through the crowd among chaos, it wasn’t hard for Loki to recognize her. Even if she was different from how he’d always scene her, his sharp senses identified her scent. It was like a beckoning; and her scent was marvelous. When he thought about it later on, her scent did quite remind him of his mother. And when he’d seen her, even in a moment of pandemonium, he felt the slightest shift within him, a gentle  little tug on his heart. He’d stared at her for a moment; mesmerized. _ A princess. _ It immediately came to his mind. It’s been almost pleasurable to pull her into his arms; yet it was an emotion so unfamiliar that it disappeared as soon as it came. 

It was a shame that she had to return the dress, although he’d never admit it himself. 

The two of them settled into a nearby interior which she called a _ coffee shop _ . It was warm and cozy inside, although rather crowded by those who had run for their lives, and the owner of the place (As Momo explained) was handing out drinks for no pay. She found the pair of them a place rather secluded from the possibly eavesdropping ears, and as soon as they sat down, she told him; “Spill”

He didn’t quite understand what that meant, and wondered if she wanted to spill their complimentary glass of water all over. When he didn’t reply, she rolled her eyes frustratedly and said; “Tell me everything”

He hadn’t much to tell, really. He didn’t know  enough to tell her. He told her about the fire and multiples of him which were all illusions, and she gaped at him as if he was all bonkers.

“So you’re telling me that the other you and the fire wasn’t real” She repeated.

“Yes, that’s the gist of it” He sighed.

The mortal stared at him, right into his eyes for a moment, and he stared back. 

“Are  _ you _ real?” She asked him, and then she reached out and poked her index finger against his face. He pulled back, baffled.

“I  _ am _ ” He went, frustrated. 

She mulled it over for a while as if her question hadn’t a definitive answer. “Then” She looked at him. “If the fire isn’t real but the animal is, then it could wake up!”

Loki shook his hand. “I wouldn’t worry about that”

“What do you mean you wouldn’t?” She exclaimed, seemingly petrified. “If there was no fire then it's not dead, it would wake up and  _ kill _ everyone”

Loki sighed. There was way too much information to explain and he simply hadn’t the time to. 

“It isn’t dead, yes, but it doesn’t know that yet”

“It doesn’t know that it's  _ not dead _ ?” She widened her eyes.

Loki pressed both his hands together, looking heavenwards. He’d thought she had some level of intelligence, and it turned out he had just overestimated her.

“Listen” He finally replied just as patiently as he could. “It’s all illusory. The animal would wake up, yes. But it wasn’t sent to attack; not the city, at least”

He let out a deep sigh and looked out the glass panel at the street which was relatively calmer. Whatever that sent the creature was out there somewhere, perhaps, blending among the crowd of the street. His vision was blinded; there was nothing that Loki could possibly sense. Not knowing what was about to happen was worse than them actually happening; it was as if the clocks were ticking away, and with every second, they were drawing closer to danger.

“So it came for you” Momo clarified.

“As an ambush” He replied. “It was to threaten us of what awaits” 

And then, as quietly and patiently as possible, he explained what he had so far deduced from the attack. He told her about the possible and evidently more menacing threat behind it, and although he couldn’t exactly work out what, it was still something that had the power over summoning a mythical creature such as the Bulgasari. And if anything, it wouldn’t be the first creature that would be sent after them.

“So what are they threatening you for, rather than taking over its power themselves?” Momo continued in barely a whisper.

“The tesseract is possibly the most powerful cosmic element; one of the infinity stones” Loki replied and pressed his folded hands against his lips nervously. It was more than evident why whatever that was, was after him. “The tesseract, if in its full power, could not be handled by a mortal, or even a being of power. It could only be touched by a god” he lifted his gaze up to her. “I wouldn’t say I am right about this one. But whatever it is, it is not only the tesseract that they’re after”

Loki didn’t have to word it out to her, she understood him just the same. A cloud of worry and fear passed over her gentle features; eyes widening and jaw set, rendered speechless. He could see that she had the same question as himself in her mind. Their quest had not ended there. Instead, it had gotten much, much worse.

“So you’re saying they have it but haven’t the strength to wield it”

Loki nodded. “Only I can, unless its energy was used for any other purposes. But given the sort of threat that we received, it's highly unlikely” Loki recalled that time when he’d first found it on earth, what Nick Fury had attempted to achieve from its power. This was not another Nick Fury they were after; but someone who probably thought of themselves above all, who thought itself as powerful as the gods.

“So if we get to it before they get to you…”

“ _ They will not get to me _ ” He insisted, his voice raising an octave than intended, and Momo stared at him, almost baffled by his outburst. He cleared his throat and sat back. “That would not happen” He said, this time a little milder. “But yes, you’re right. We must get it first” 

But still the whereabouts of the tesseract remained unknown. They could continue their search, but with the limited time, there were way too many locations that they could narrow down to. And on the other hand, they were short of numbers. A god with relatively limited powers and a bold yet powerless mortal against an unknown force. They were most definitely fighting blind. For now, they were all out of options, unless they somehow built it, the device to trace the gamma rays.

“What do we do now?” The mortal muttered, almost to herself. It was comforting, somehow, that there was someone having the same concern as himself.

“We find the Tesseract” He replied, without taking another second to think. “We’re left without much choice here”

“So we will be going to the places again?”

He stared at her for a moment, weighing all his options. There weren’t many, but Loki was a trickster; a trickster who had played even the most intelligent of the gods and goddesses. Their nemesis could be underestimating his strength here, yet he shouldn’t be doing the same. 

“No we’re not” He replied, and finally climbed up on his feet. “But we will work it out”

  
  


A few minutes later, we were out in the street again. Loki probably had a plan and I trusted him with it. The past few minutes had been enough a shock for me that it numbed me enough to actually trust him with anything, but the way that he carried himself was almost reassuring for me. I didn’t imagine that he knew what he was dealing with; but he had most probably dealt with much worse. And that was good enough reason to stand his side for the moment.

And if I were to be completely honest, I liked it, being under threat; the adrenaline rush that it gave me. My life had been just too plain and dull that even the possibility of getting killed excited me. As we walked alone, I lifted my skirt, an action almost unconscious as my mind reeled around the possibilities. A prince and I, saving the world together. It sounded so great and almost surreal that I wanted to weep.

“I don’t suppose we’re in a situation to be happy about” Loki’s voice floated into my thoughts, and I looked up to see him staring ahead, eyes narrowed at the warm sun. People were rushing by, phones in hands, hurriedly reporting on what transpired. Among the chaos, me in my princessy Hanbok and Loki in all his usual elegance were evidently standing out.

“This is exciting” I told him, making a little skip. I knew I shouldn’t be too happy about this; especially given that I wasn’t just in danger. I wasn’t even in  _ safe hands _ .

Loki scoffed. “You could get killed”

I shrugged. “I have nothing to lose”

And then, almost as if on cue, the only thing that I was afraid to lose was right across the street, screaming on top of his lungs.

“You!” He was screaming in english, and then hurriedly crossed the street without even bothering to check the road. A police car whizzed past him even as he traversed the gravel road. His eyes weren’t on me but on the  man beside me. It didn’t seem all that good to me.

“You…” Jason stood before us, his eyes focused on Loki beside me. “What the hell are you?” 

He was well over his level of patience. He was enraged, veins popping out in his forehead and all, and then he fisted the lapels of Loki’s jacket, harshly pushing him back. He was evidently smaller in size compared to the godly stature that Loki was. But that wasn’t stopping him; and for my surprise, neither was Loki fighting against him. “What...the hell are you and what are you doing with her?”

I wanted to feel happy about finally having a man fighting another over me, but now just wasn’t the time. 

“Jason…” I reached for his arm, not daring to look Loki in the eyes. “Jason, stop!”

Loki, not budging once, gave me a look so cold that only meant that he was not taking the situation very lightly. And I wouldn’t expect him to either. He had some mythical being on his tail after possibly having stolen the cosmic cube; and the last thing he wanted right now was an oblivious mortal fighting him.

But Jason wasn’t having it. “Whatever you are, just leave her alone and go away!”

I grasped onto his shirt, trying to pull him off, free Loki from his iron clutches before actual damage could happen. But I suppose Jason was angered and baffled to a level that he couldn’t even handle himself.

“Jason…” I intervened, yet again, trying to pry him off. But he was much stronger than I was. He glanced at me for a second, and then looked back at Loki, whose face was impassive and if anything, hardened. Thankfully, the surrounding crowd was too busy absorbing the events of the day to take notice of what was happening with the two men. But that didn’t mean it would be for too long.

“Jason!” I tried again, and he finally looked at me. “What?” He asked. 

I glanced up at Loki, then back at him. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you”

And that did it. I suppose it was the last straw Loki needed, as if it was the approval he required to do what he did. 

“Neither would I” Loki growled; and with a green flash, Jason was thrown off him. Not too far and not too hard, lest it would catch unnecessary attention, but hard enough to possibly alert Jason with what he was dealing with. For a second, I was baffled. Jason couldn’t even form a coherent response. He remained on the ground, his hands holding him up on the hard tarmac as the passers-by spared him a curious glance. He gaped at Loki in a stupor, his eyes widened, the initial shock not wearing off.

I didn’t think Loki would out himself like this. But on the other hand, he actually didn’t have a problem in doing that either. He dusted his shoulders as if Jason’s grasp had laid any dust on him, and gave me a hard look.

I sighed and finally made my way to Jason. He yelped and moved away from him, but I grasped a handful of his shirt and kept him in place.

“What...what the hell are you doing?” Jason was talking to me, all the while pointing at Loki in front of him? “This...this man...he is not normal!”

He was trembling at this point, his shirt soaking with sweat. I sighed and crouched down beside him. “I know”

“Of course you do!” Jason gasped. “Yet you didn’t tell me and now you’re-!”

“If I did, would you believe me?” I asked him mildly.

Jason looked at me, and then at Loki who was impatiently standing there and then back at me. Then he climbed up on his feet. He grasped my hand tighter than ever. As he spoke, he was stricken with fear. 

“Momo, he’s dangerous. Whatever he is, he is not normal; you don’t  _ understand _ ”

I looked down at his hand. As great as it felt to be held by him, I couldn’t bring myself to agree with him. It was true, everything he said were true. But Jason didn’t know Loki like I did, and I wouldn't blame him either. Loki’s arrival in my life had put lots of things into perspective, and now, he was my responsibility; we both had a responsibility together, and for that reason, I couldn’t possibly stay away. We were bound together, and I had willingly gotten myself into it. Nor was I ready to get out of it.

“Jason…” I finally looked up at him, and he gaped at me, baffled by my response. “You and I need to talk”

I looked over at Loki, asking for his approval. I knew I needn’t do that, but I felt the need to. It was the right thing to do. He looked at me, and just shrugged before he walked away.

Jason’s hand tightened around mine. I let out a heavy sigh, gazing after Loki’s retreating back among the crowd, and then I glanced over at Jason.

“If I tell you now, you’d probably believe me” I tried to smile.

“Try me” Jason gasped.

I bit my lip, considering how much I was allowed to reveal, and then I made up my mind. He would have to know it, he would have to know everything; there was no other way. Loki would be out for a while, and I felt that it would be safer this time to allow him to be out on his own. Loki didn’t destruct, not all the time. And perhaps, he probably had more damage control to do. I could leave him for it for a while and give this moment to Jason with me, to explain myself, to explain our strange arrangement and clear all the doubts he had.

 

Invisible to the crowd, Loki returned to the scene of crime. Although it wasn’t as chaotic as it was when he’d left, the place was pretty much in pandemonium. There were people from the media, one thing he was familiar with from the events in New York, and the entire place was secured by the police and armed forces. One thing he prominently noticed from the site was that the fire was gone, although it had been quite an impressive of an illusion that he’d cast. And most importantly, the Bulgasari had disappeared.

Loki stood amongst the crowd, invisible and people walking right through him. Yet, he stood frozen to the spot. Whatever that had sent the creature was here, and it had succeeded in ambushing him. For the first time in his life, Loki was terrified of what awaited him. All this time, with whatever he did, he had someone standing by his side; ordering him or leading him. This once, Loki knew nothing of the danger that remained ahead of him; and he was completely, utterly alone. 

Although it was redemption that he strived after, an opportunity to prove himself of his worth, he was suddenly seeing through the cracks and flaws of how it could go all wrong. For one, he simply wasn’t powerful enough. Other than the strength and vitality that he’d been born with as a god, all he had against a possibly powerful beings were the tricks and magic that he’d been taught by his mother. Unlike Thor, he hadn’t a powerful hammer that casted the strength of lightining upon the opponent and sent its wielder darting through the sky. Unlike Odin, he hadn’t that limitless power or intellect to foresee into the future. Unlike his mother, he couldn’t cast the best of his spells in a way that would protect an entire realm from the harm’s ways. And worse of all, he could possibly be fighting against someone who possessed that unlimited power of the cosmic cube. With only an uncharacteristically brave mortal woman by his side, Loki probably hadn’t a chance of surviving this let alone achieving redemption.

He had thought it would be another Nick Fury, or Nick Fury himself and his army that he’d have to battle away. But this...this, he hadn’t expected at all. 

He moved away from the sight of where the monster once had been, now nothing but ruins and shadows left behind by the illusions he’d cast. Whatever their nemesis was, it was not human or nowhere near that; or he would have felt their existence with the sharpness of his senses. He walked towards the gates which were now open and where the crowds were spilling out in torrents. He walked among them and even right through them. Those who felt him probably felt a cold chill running down their spines. Somehow, he found himself on the sandy grounds within the four walls. Momo was right; it wasn’t anything special but a sizable square, a barricade of guards from the times of the kings, the rulers safely tucked away beyond these walls. He looked around at the vast empty grounds before them. The tesseract couldn’t be anywhere in sight. And he hadn’t expected it to. Merely an empty piece of ground, it was; left for the pleasure of the visitors and nothing more.

Yet, it didn’t take long for him to be proved wrong. It came to him all of a sudden through thin air; an unexpected force, so harsh, so powerful that it sent him tumbling to the ground. Wide eyed, baffled by the sudden intrusion, Loki finally climbed up on his feet. Before him, standing in all his glory was a man, aged no less than late sixty or seventy years of age. His hair and beard were long and was of a glorious silver, shining against the wind. By the sight of him, Loki could say that he was no ordinary man. A god, perhaps? Loki had a vague recollection of encountering similar men in his brief travel in this country. But none had ever struck as particularly powerful to him.

Loki climbed up to his feet and took a step back, bracing himself. He might be short of power compared to his brother; but nothing stopped him from battling his nemesis, not even the fact that he had little power in hand.

He summoned his daggers and held them securely in his hands. The older man, the sorcerer stood magnificently before him, completely unthreatened, the epitome of tranquility. There was no sign of attack, but still Loki kept his daggers at the ready.

“ _ What _ are you?” He growled at the man in their language, and that earned an impressed smile.

“Oh, he speaks  _ us _ ” Said the man gruffly. There was something about his voice that struck him as peculiar. It didn’t come from the man himself; it was almost as if it echoed in his mind.

“I asked what are you?!?” Loki snapped impatiently, his daggers held before him; yet the man appeared unaffected by his threatening gesture as he approached him. The smile on his lips remained for a while, but soon, it dropped as if he’d been pressed a switch. He looked authoritative then. His featured hardened, brows furrowed.

“I know what you are looking for”

At this, Loki leapt towards him, his daggers held out. “It was you, then…”

The man looked at him, perplexed. “I was what?”

“The animal, the  _ Bulgasari _ ”

“Ah, the  _ Bulgasari _ ” The man reiterated as if it wasn’t a dangerous, indestructible animal that they spoke of. He then slowly paced the length before him; graceful on his feet as if he walked on clouds. “My boy...during the thousands of years of your life time, what you’ve learned seem to be very little”

“Oh I know enough for my age” Loki growled back, taking offence. The man was still completely undeterred. 

“It is an object of great power” He continued, ignoring him; still pacing along the sandy path that he himself had created. “One of the great infinity stones...and it’s wielder would be so powerful that it could take over the world”

Loki took a step towards him, his daggers ever ready.  _ “Where is it?” _

The man halted, just a few steps away from him. When he looked at Loki, all that he could see was great intellect in his eyes. “I’m not your nemesis, young prince”

Loki knew better to not trust anyone; given all the things that he himself had done to those who had blindly put their trust upon him. Even the most trusted could change lanes and become a nemesis at any point, and it would be foolish of him to believe the words of an old sorcerer that he had never known in his life. This man was just as powerful as he was as a god, or perhaps even more so. He was invincible, he had stealth, impossibly for his age. And even worse, he probably knew more than he should, about the cosmic tube. _ A threat, a danger; _ echoed in his voice.

“We’ll see about that” Loki muttered under his breath and didn’t think twice before he launched on the other. While being invisible, his powers were limited; he couldn’t cast illusions, he couldn’t create multiples of himself. All he had in his dispense were the daggers and his strength. With all his might, Loki worked himself. He knew that the east of Midgard was known for its own multiple versions of wisdom and sorcery, the kind of magic that only high intellect could wield and perceive. In the east, most were not born with sorcery; They found it, they created it. And here was a man, unafraid to challenge a god and perhaps having become himself, a man of great wisdom and power after all that he’d gathered in life.

Yet Loki didn’t allow this thought to hinder him from his plight. He dodged and moved as fluid as a kitten, light on his feet, the man attacking in retaliation to all his blows. Loki sent his daggers flying through the wind, only to return to his hands and no scathe to the man. He kicked and jumped and held the man down threateningly, not an intention to kill. But the man would always and always fight against his constraints. And he would win. It was a battle that he was soon losing. For his age, the sorcerer's strength and will was indispensable. At one point he had Loki down on his knees in a headlock, and something flashed through his brain.

‘Give up’ whispered the man in his mind. ‘Listen…’

Loki took this a chance to fight back, grab the man from behind him and slammed him onto the ground. But the man didn’t fall, he didn't disappear in the cloudy storm of sand that the movement created. Instead, he flipped through the wind and landed on his feet, a quiet, rapid movement; light as a feather. He intimidated him. Loki had never seen a man with movements so soft yet powerful and precise. LHe knew that he was battling a fight that he was losing easily. But surrender had never been an option for him. He fights on, put in every bit of his might, and after a few minutes of kicks, dodges and screams, the sorcerer finally had him at the mercy of his iron grasp, him held down tightly against the wall.

And there it was again. ‘Listen…’ went his voice inside his brain. Not a threat, not an order; but so much as a plea, a request. Loki stared up at the man, at the small slits of his eyes disappearing under his silvery brows and sagging skin, then finally found himself yielding to him.

‘I yield’ He allowed his mind to speak; not a word exchanged. Then suddenly, a small, bony hand was placed on the side of his head, and a sharp pain coursed through him.

He gasped, he struggled; but not for too long, as soon, vague and blurry images started to rush through his mind.

At first, he was perplexed. The images didn’t seem to make sense to him. Rain, a set of ancient, old stairs. Feet clad in boots, voices whispering things he couldn’t understand. There was a cloudy sky, the hoot of a dog; then suddenly, the vision changed. There it was, then. The tesseract, the cosmic cube secured in the crafted hands of what seemed to him a statue of an eastern deity. Loki attempted to see where the vision was, where he was seeing; but the surroundings, the vague, blurry apparitions he had, gave no clue. Suddenly the images changed so briskly. The beginning of an iron bridge, a hand so small and pale that he almost recognized, a river running rapidly underneath the bridge. Then suddenly, as his heart leapt to his throat, an image so clear and scaringly beautiful that he’d identify wherever; the moonlike face of the mortal, her doe eyes widened with fear as they gazed into his own. All he could see within them was fear, plead, and a tinge of bravery that he’d always known.

‘Please’ muttered her voice in his dream, and all of a sudden, it was all gone. 

The sorcerer moved away, and he collapsed onto the sand with a thud, creating a storm of dust around him. He gagged and coughed, feeling the dirt in his eyes and down the strills of his nose, his mind in a whirlwind. He had done this before, at least something similar. Loki could resurface past memories by reading into other’s minds. But what he experienced here, right now was different. He had just seen a probable present and a future, everything that awaited him after this point of time.

“Wh-what...what are you?” Loki finally found his voice to gasp as he stumbled back onto his feet.

The sorcerer dusted his hands on his robes, a look of disgust on his face. “I thought you knew, young prince” He said nonchalantly.

Loki tilted his head. He did know a lot of things, perhaps a lot more than he should and certainly a lot more than his idiot of a brother did. But that didn’t mean that he knew everything. 

The sorcerer looked straight into his eyes, and Loki found something gentle about them; intelligence, and somehow amuse. “If you don’t, well...you soon will”

“Huh?” He gasped, leaning against the wall behind him. Loki could rake his brain with all his might but he was pretty sure there was not an iota of a clue as to what this man could be. 

“And the mortal…” said the sorcerer, gazing firmly at him. Loki finally found strength upon the mention of her, and something rigid stilled inside him, weighing him down.

“What about her?” He asked, his voice hard as thunder. There was something perplexing in his eyes. A message, a question, something somehow deeply disturbing yet he couldn’t put a finger on.

_ ‘Protect her’ _ the voice echoed in his mind, and something hard wound around his heart. Loki couldn’t muster a word to say in response. 

And then, before he could question any further, just as any sorcerer with invisibility would, the man dispersed into the thin air. There was not a whisper of a sound, a thread of a movement. Just a blink of an eye, and he became blurry until he was nothing at all.

Loki leaned back onto the wall, gasping. He was still invisible and deeply distubed; confused. He recalled all the visions in his mind, tried to work out where in his life he had seen them. He knew nothing of what he had seen, or where it could be. He knew nothing of how big this country was, or how he could possibly get around the place. All he knew was that the Tesseract was out there somewhere, lying in the arms of a statue of a deity, an iron bridge and an old staircase leading up to it, and finally that somehow, Momo’s life could be under threat. 


	10. 9: Your World, and Mine

After I’ve spilled all the truths to Jason, he looked as if he was having a hard time to digest, like he’d swallowed a banana in whole. We were back in that crowded cafe, the one I’d sat with Loki in, in the exact same seat. Only now, instead of Loki, Jason occupied that place. For a moment, he just gazed at his phone in his hand, at the image of Loki the war criminal from New York, possibly trying to come into terms with the fact that he had just threatened a man who was responsible for the deaths of more than a hundred people and the destruction of an entire city. He slowly turned to me.

“And you’re...you’re telling me that you’re helping this guy?” Jason asked me, and there was a little tremble in his voice.

I shrugged. I had already explained to him everything, starting from Loki’s untimely arrival on my rooftop to when I’d made a dangerous bargain with him. There was no reason why I must answer to this question all over again.

But Jason, on his part, was still in disbelief. Not of the fact that Loki was a murderous norse god; that he was able to absorb although it wasn’t the easiest. What he couldn’t get his head around was that I had most bravely offered my support to him, not realising all the risks that I had taken.

Hastily, Jason reached his hand out to me and grasped mine in his. “Momo, you need to stay away from him”

I gave him an apologetic smile. “It’s already done, Jason”

He retrieved his hand, his eyes widened in fear. “Would he kill you, if you refused?”

I gazed out at the glass panel of the cafe we were in, to the direction that Loki had disappeared to. If I was asked this question perhaps a week ago, I would have agreed to him, with not a moment of contemplation. Loki was more than liable to commit murder. But a week had passed and I had seen Loki in a light that nobody else had probably ever had. Loki didn’t kill for indulgence, destruction wasn’t in his nature. Whatever happened in New York was a story that he would never admit. I knew that it might sound foolish beyond words, to trust him, to believe him. But the Loki that I had grown to know was worth believing in.

And I did.

“Momo…” Jason called me, a tone of desperation underlying his voice. 

“He wouldn’t” I replied to the question that he asked me, and when I glanced at him, Jason looked as if I had just admitted to have turned into a mythical creature myself. I let out a sigh and then a chuckle. It wouldn’t be easy to make him understand my sentiments, and he really didn’t have to; nor did he have to support my decision. All he had to do was believe me, believe him, understand the gravity of the situation that we were in, nothing more.

But his adamance of letting me a part of this was evident. As much as it warmed my heart, his concern, as much as I realised that this was what I had wanted from him, all this time, I hadn’t the sheer strength to give in.

“We don’t know what you are dealing with” He pushed on and moved towards me. “You know you can just be a normal person doing the ordinary things in life-”

“I’ve been that person” I interjected, sighing. “And it didn’t feel just as great as this”

Jason’s face crumpled. “Oh Momo…”

I moved forward, and touched his hand. “I want to do it, and I’m doing it. I’m not a coward to run away now”

“That’s called self-preservation” He said.

“Relax” I gave him a smile. “It's just for a while, and soon will be over”

Jason gazed at me, seemingly mulling it over. I didn’t like that look in his eyes; the furrowed brows, his determined gaze. Jason was naturally protective of me, or of anyone. it was his nature; brotherly instincts, he had said. But never had he been so insistent about anything before, and this surprised me. We’ve been friends for a couple of months now. Yet, this is definitely a first. I was adamant of thinking about the possibility, lest they would eventually break me. But on the other hand, I couldn’t help myself. This was an uncharacteristic, completely unexpected meeting today. And the entire time I had spent in his presence, Jason kept surprising me.  _ What did this all even mean? _

But I couldn’t even begin to find out, as Loki had returned; and he was not the man that I had left off. He hurriedly pushed open the door of the cafe, catching everyone's attention, his eyes already fixed on me. He approached our table, and without even a word, he reached out and grabbed me by my wrist. 

“Hey-,” I started, but he interjected me.

“We must go”

I glanced at Jason who was slowly, quietly climbing up on his feet. Given the information that he had to absorb the past fifteen minutes, I wouldn’t blame him for being completely vary and doubtful. Then I glanced back at Loki, and realised that his expression certainly meant trouble.

“Bad news?” I asked him in a small voice, and he just looked at me without a word. He didn’t have to word it out to me. Somehow we have worked out our own mutual mode of conversation with just the expressions, nothing more. And I understood him.

I turned to Jason, feeling a sharp little stab in my heart. We had something going on today, a little spark of hope, a secret passage of our own. And as much as I wanted to revel in that comfort of knowing it, being in his company, the bigger responsibilities that I’d accepted were awaiting me. 

I turned to Jason and gave him a tight lipped smile. “I’m sorry, Kang. I will have to go”

Jason looked at me, and then at Loki. He appeared terrified. Understandable, especially since Loki had magically thrown him on the ground just a few minutes ago. 

“B-but…?” he started, and when he looked at me, his eyes hazy and pleading, something gently snapped inside me. I had never seen him look at me like this, and it took the arrival of Loki to bring out this protective side of him. 

“We should go” Loki reminded me, tugging at my sleeve.

“Yeah, uh” I turned back to Jason, a thick knot forming in my throat. “I’m...I’m so sorry, and I will make it up to you”

“Will you?” His eyes glimmered like a cluster of stars.

“I will” I assured to him in response.

  
  


Loki and I couldn’t leave just yet. We had to go to the rental to return the dress, and it took a while to settle the payments and put my clothes back on, while Loki impatiently paced the length of the sidewalk outside. The moment I returned, “You’re late!” He snapped. Loki was generally quite snappy, but now I realised that he was particularly more snappy than usual.

“Geez” I said lightly as he walked ahead. “Calm your horses, gramps, I have a life to live too”

“You wouldn’t have one if you don’t hurry up” He replied grimly, and turned the corner of the street. I followed him, and he stood by a bush, looking preoccupied. I was just about to ask what his deal was, but then he cut me off by pulling me towards him, quite so harshly that I couldn’t even prepare myself before he crushed me against his chest. There was that time and space shift, and in a second; we were on our rooftop. Loki pushed me back as equally as hard as he did when he pulled me to him. I stumbled backwards and found my balance against the ledge.

I had seen Loki losing his patience enough times, once getting threatened to be cut as well; but I had to admit, in none of those times I hadn’t been terrified as I was now. Back at that time, I knew that the root of his anger was only his irritation over just about anything that didn’t appeal to him. This time around, I knew it was different. He had seen something, he had gotten to know something, and that had pissed him off, very much so.

Loki stood in the middle of the rooftop, not saying a word. His anger was released in the form of telekinesis, and the wooden bench and a couple of potted plants that were to his side flipped onto the floor. I let out a sigh.

“What happened?” I asked him.

He turned to me, his hands fisted on his side, in his eyes were gleaming blue flames. “The tesseract. I know where it is”

  
  


As it happened, while I was filling Jason in on his true identity, Loki had gone down to the site of crime, realised the godzilla mutant was gone, and was then met with an old man who could be invisible and he had put visions into his mind. Based on what he said, I mulled things over. I didn’t know much about Korean history or mythology, and the only creature that could become invisible to my knowledge was the goblin. And I knew this not because I knew my history very well, but because I had spent most of my time watching tele dramas on TV.

And the goblin that I knew wasn’t a silver bearded old man. Goblins were supposed to be immortal, I told him that. And also that they could shape shift, teleport and move things with their mind; just like he himself could. Loki appeared very offended by this piece of information, especially after knowing that Goblins weren't gods like himself. I didn’t go on to the part where I knew all of this because of a television series.

I could have stayed with him that evening and talked about where this vision of him could be of, but real life was calling me; I had to go to work.

“You know what?” I said as I stepped out of my house after a bath, ready for work. I was in my  _ ‘Mister Chicken’ _ T-shirt. I had chicken and beer delivery tonight. Loki was sitting outside on the ledge, deep in thought. He glanced up at me. 

“I have to go to work” I told him, putting on my bag. “So meanwhile, don’t do anything nasty. Just sit down and try to...I don’t know,  _ conjure  _ what you have in mind about this place”

Loki looked at me sharply. “I do what I want”

I let out a sigh. “Sure, suit yourself” I gestured at my house. “But please don’t hurt my cat or break anything”

He nodded. I gave him a small wave and made myself towards the stairs, but then he called out to me. I turned around.

“I want to shower” He said.

I have taught Loki about the wonders of showers here on earth. Apparently, back in Asgard, they had large tubs of hot water where they lied in for hours, like they showed in old historical movies. Initially he expected my bathroom to be the same, and when he saw the size of it, along with the overhead shower, the commode and all the feminine hygiene products inside, he just about riotted. When I explained to him about communal baths where hundreds of old and young men bathed in the same tub, stark naked, he decided to opt to what I had. 

Loki didn’t exactly appreciate the midgardian bathing arrangement. For one, the shower stall was too short, and he couldn’t stand under it without the shower head hitting his head. For the other, he got annoyed by sprinkles of water as it took too long to wash himself. Then the soap. As it happened, back in his world, the water itself was scented with oils and natural scents. Not the liquid that we had here. In the end, I told him that he could either do with what we had, or go to the communal bath. He agreed on the former, although with much grumbled complaints.

Loki, for my amazement, had been raised with manners. He respected women; he respected me. And he never had a bath when I was around. Only when I would leave for work, which I really appreciated. When I returned home, the bathroom will be in an absolute mess, but he would be squeaky clean, smelling like strawberries, all dressed in his prince-y robes, standing outside and sulking. 

“Sure, go ahead” I shrugged as I walked backwards to the staircase. “But you know, try not to mess up the place. I have to save the world so no time to-,”

Somehow, as I spoke I had walked backwards, all the way to the staircase, and I didn’t realise it until I began to fall backwards. But then, the impact never happened. Not to my back, at least. I saw Loki raise his hand in the air, with the nonchalance of  someone who did this task on a daily basis, and then I stumbled forward. Loki looked at me, his gaze sharp and irritated. He didn’t take too well to saving people. I suppose he was so used to killing them that this was an all new territory that he had a hard time getting used to.

“Hee, thanks!” I told him, turned around and skipped my way downstairs.

 

‘Mister Chicken’ (Pardon the ridiculous name) was an establishment which, well, sold fried chicken, and was among many of similar chicken stores in a street full of fried chicken stores. But still, we had  good business, we had our own bunch of loyal customers, and one of them happened to be Jason.

To be absolutely honest, Mister Chicken did not have a lot of fans all because the boss was a little too haughty and the chicken was  a tad too dry. I had no idea why Jason insisted on getting his chicken delivered from us; my silly little brain just assumed that he only wanted me to be handling his delivery every day.

I drove my scooty into the university grounds, then through the serpentine roads towards the hostel. I hadn’t been here since that time with Loki, and I prayed to every god not to allow me to get recognised by the security staff. Thankfully, it was late in the night, and pretty much everyone was tired after the King Sejong day festivals. I parked my scooter outside and waited. five minutes later, Jason emerged, not in his pajamas like he usually did but dressed snuggly for the cold.

“Do you still have to get back to work?” he asked me. This is the last delivery I had for tonight. But still I had to get back to work. I told him that.

“Okay” He sighed, sounding disappointed. “Then can you just walk with me?”

I had a few minutes to spare before I could return to the shop. Walk, I would do with him, I said. I parked the scooty in the dark, away from the scrutinizing eyes, and together we walked the length of the gravel path, out and away from the hostel.

As we did, we talked. First it was just menial things; studies, work, families. He asked about papa, I told him that we hadn’t spoken on the phone for a while. He was still mad at me for a few bad decisions I’ve made. I asked after his parents, and he said they were good. I told him about college, about all the lectures that I had missed. At this point, the conversation changed. Jason brought it all the way back to Loki.

“I understand that you really want to do this…” he said, looking straight into my eyes. “But I hope you understand that the last time it had taken a bunch of super heroes to handle him. And you’re just one ordinary person”

“That was different” I told him, feeling quite too sure of myself. During the week that I had spent with him, I realised that I couldn’t possibly relate the Loki who had destroyed New York to the one throwing a tantrum on my rooftop.

“It’s the same person” He pushed on, as if he was answering to my thoughts. I looked up at him to see how concerned he seemed, and it was quite heart warming for me, for once to have someone worrying after me, to have  _ Jason _ worrying after me. I halted and let out a heavy sigh. We have walked so far that we’d somehow come up the slope of the Hall of Peace. Tonight there was a concert happening, and the sounds from inside echoed throughout the vast campus grounds.

“He’s changed” I told him and buried my hands in my pockets. “And maybe he regrets what happened...now he’s trying to stop what could happen, and I would help him with that”

Jason stood beside his, face hidden in the shadow of his hoodie. “You said he tricked people. This could all be a lie”

I glanced up at him and gave him a small, reassuring smile. “Maybe, or maybe not. But what he really needs right now is someone to trust him. And I am willing to do that”

“Momo” Jason sounded exhausted as he called me. “You can’t possibly trust that man, he is a fugitive”

I shrugged and began to walk ahead. It’s the second time that we’re having this conversation and I was surprised at how he was still hung onto this topic. Frankly, however, I kept finding Jason’s adamance exhausting. He only got to know the truth just hours ago whereas I’ve been in this for a week. I wouldn’t say that I was in completely safe hands. But still, when I had allowed Loki into my life, I had taken up a great responsibility. And now, that responsibility remained heavy in my hands. I couldn't simply walk away, and I hope he could understand that. 

“Look, I called you here because I have an idea”  Jason suddenly put in, and found him catching up to my pace. I slowed down.

“And that is?” I raised my brows. 

“I was thinking...well, if you’re not going to give up on this-,”

“I said I can’t because I shouldn’t” I clarified for him.

“Right” He nodded. “Yeah, so since you can’t, well then I’ll join you too”

I stopped walking and turned to him. “What?”

“I’ll join you” he shrugged as if he was talking about joining the chicken delivery.

I looked at him, perplexed. “Well, you just said he was dangerous and-,”

“That’s exactly why I’m joining you” He sighed. 

I was still confused. Just a minute ago, he was hell bent on convincing me to abandon this, and now, all of a sudden he had taken a hundred-and-eighty-degree turn of a decision, willing to take part. When I didn’t respond to him, perhaps my inner thoughts etched all over my face, Jason stepped towards me, reached out and took my hand. My heart naturally did a somersault, both perplexed and slowly the doubtful truths clouding my mind. 

“He is dangerous, and you’re probably putting your life at risk and I….” He took a deep breath, and his eyes fell into mine. “I don’t want you to do it alone, Miyawaki. If you’re going to risk your life, I’m going to risk mine with you”

Never in my life had I imagined him telling this to me. We’ve been acquaintances for at least six months now, and during that six months it had been only me who showed any signs of fondness towards him whereas Jason appeared to be always oblivious. Now I was starting to think back to the time we’ve spent, searching for a sign, a single inkling as to what could have lead us here. I didn’t have to think too far; the most obvious sign lied there, right in front of me.

“But why?” I still asked him. I wasn’t going to accept this just blindly. I could be assuming things, my own mind tricking me.

Jason laughed. “I thought it was obvious” And his hand slowly curled around mine. 

For a moment, we were both speechless. It was a lovely night, tonight. The gravelly path up to the Hall of Peace was dusted with cherry blossoms; the replica of the Notre-dame cathedral was beautiful, lightened up for the night.  It was so cold that every word we said formed a white cloud of warm breath. In the background, the concert inside the hall was playing a slow number, and something snapped inside me.

_ I had waited for this moment for so long. _

“So?” Jason peered at me, but I couldn’t bring myself to return the gesture. My cheeks were flaming, my heart had leapt to my throat. It was almost surreal that an alien had to land on my rooftop and put my life under risk, for Jason to come and be a bigger part of me. And now that it was happening, I didn’t know what to think anymore. I had waited for it for so long, but now that it was happening it felt too sudden, too soon. And I wasn’t ready. There were just too many things happening in my world right now, and I wasn’t certain if I had the sheer ability or the space to accommodate Jason in my life right now.

But what could I say to him, then?  _ What? _

“Miyawaki?” He called me again, and I finally willed myself to look up at him. My cheeks were flaming and I didn’t think I still had the ability to form a single word.

“Well I…” I hesitated. “I think we should give it a try...risking our lives together”

Jason laughed at this. So did I. The sound of his cackles echoed over the lowly sound of the concert, and I revelled at the sight of him, head thrown back, eyes narrowed into crescent moons and laughing; the gentle white lights of the campus grounds had fallen upon him; and for a moment, he looked ethereal, beautiful. I realised, as I watched him laughing away that perhaps I could actually give this a chance. I had wanted this, I had wanted him, and i had wanted him to want me equally the same, and finally it was happening now. Here we were, jason and I, making the strangest deal and forming a budding connection that we probably never had the audacity to acknowledge.

_ ‘He would break your heart _ ’ Loki’s voice echoed in my mind again, and I shook my head. Tonight, this very moment; it was perfect. And although its the same alien who had eventually brought us together, I would not let him stand between us and set us apart. 

Jason, at some point between my laughter and moment of contemplation, had recollected himself. His laughter was gone, and on his face now was an expression that I had never seen before. Hope, wonderment, a quiet question; and I realised that he was slowly moving towards me. His hand, which was in mine was tugging me towards him; and I knew where we were going.

As much as I had fantasized  this moment, now that it was happening, I didn’t want it. It was too fast; and until I was certain of where we’d ultimately end up together, I was not willing to risk my heart.

Just as if on cue, the concert in the background moved onto yet another slow title. He was just inches apart from me. But I took a deep breath and stepped away. He opened his eyes, his face reddening, appearing ashamed. But that I took as a moment to put my hands around his neck. 

“Dance with me” I told him. 

“H-huh?”

Without a worded response, given that I was slowly losing my ability to do just that, I reached out, grasped his hands and placed them on my waist. I knew that it was bold of me to do this; I had never been so brave with a man in my life. But right at this very moment, this closeness was the only form of intimacy that I had the heart to deliver. I could do no more.

It took a while for Jason to fall into a routine. He was confused in the beginning; perhaps a little annoyed too, that I rejected his kiss. But then slowly, he got the hang of it. Thankfully, the concert played slow numbers, one after the other, and as the music continued, we went on dancing. It was surreal; me and the man I loved, dancing under the moonlight as cherry blossoms scattered around us. The music was all I could hear over the sound of our own breaths and occasional giggles, and his touch, his warmth and his breath was all that I could feel.  _ Perfect _ , it was all I could think about. This place, this moment, the two of us. We were perfect. And for the longest time, I revelled in this comfort as the rest of the world disappeared around me; until all that was left was us.

  
  


Loki couldn’t believe himself. He couldn’t believe that he was actually doing this, doing something he himself couldn’t have even imagined.

First of all, in his defense, he was only trying to do what he was told. He was protecting her. He was looking out for the mortal. On the other hand, after a bath, feeling all fresh and clean after the battle today, he hadn’t anything to do but contemplating things. He had contemplated enough about his visions, about a place that he had never seen or know, and frankly it was driving him insane.  And in the quietness of the house, with the mortal gone, it was almost too overwhelming for him. He wanted to be occupied with an even bigger task than thinking about things, and the size of the house was suffocating him. So he did the only thing he could think of at that time. He followed the trace of her scent like an animal (although he hated to admit) and being completely invisible to the world, he’d been with her the entire time, teleporting through space, wherever she went.

If he were to be honest, he hadn’t the slightest idea why he was doing this. For one, he knew that this was wrong. Would she know that he had followed her unbeknownst to her, she would riot. Not that he was particularly worried about that, but he just didn’t feel it was the right thing to do. Perhaps mortals had a term for that. Back in his world they’d have called it spying. He’d rather tally it down to protection, yes. He was protecting her from a possible old man with uncharacteristic fighting skills or an iron eating monster.

 On the other hand, he hadn’t the slightest idea what to expect when he’d first found her doing her job, delivering food to a house which was way too tall to be one. He had merely followed her scent and appeared in a different place next, and then another; all until he came to the university grounds they came to a couple of days ago. It was at this point that he realised he regretted it, at the same time he was actually there to give protection. After following the pair for a few minutes, watching their exchange from behind, Loki didn’t know what to think anymore.

Well, only except that he despised this man for a reason he couldn't exactly pinpoint.

There was something about him that just rubbed him the wrong way. Perhaps it was the innocence he was projecting, his powerlessness, his faux wit and the way he carried himself around her, all of which seemed to climb up his nerves. Loki hadn’t met many mortal men of his age, and from those that he had met, Loki had deduced that not all men had that childish innocence that he did. And it irritated him, to know that creatures like this existed, and to know that women appealed to it, even more so. In his world, both men and women never feigned such gentleness. It had never been in their nature. And seeing it in this man, for him, appeared unreal. A lie.

But it’s what certainly appealed to Momo; he could tell by just the way she looked at him. He could hear their conversation; they were talking about him. He’d give that to her, continuously standing her grounds like the brave woman she was. No matter how frustrated he became by...almost everything about her, he had to admit, for Loki, her unchanging boldness was really something. She may not have the physical strength (That woman was very, very small) but she certainly did have it in her mind. Perhaps, that’s the reason why he had chosen her for this quest, and he didn’t regret.

Well, not until the next minute when the mortal told her that he’d join her, and she, most unquestionably agreed. They were ridiculous, acting as if putting each other’s lives was all fun and romantic. Loki rolled his eyes, suppressing his anger in retaliation to their claim.  _ Brilliant _ . He thought, staring at the two young idiots, willingly putting their lives in danger. Now he’d have to protect not one but two equally idiotic mortals. At least there was purpose in protecting the girl; she was intelligent, comparing to the man who seemingly had no use at all.

And then he watched them closely as the man moved forward. He was about to kiss her; he could tell. His mortal must be over the moon, he realised. She would forget what great responsibility she had in her hands once she’d submerged herself in that superfluous world of love. He shook his head. Once she’d drowned herself there, she’d have no way out of it. And what’s worse was that he was definitely the wrong man.

She was about to get her heart broken, very very badly.

He couldn’t understand what it was about humans and love. They fell for each other as quickly as a leaf off a tree in the autumn. It was so easy, so sudden, and they showed their affection to each other in the strangest ways. He gazed at the pair of them as they danced along the tune in the breeze. He observed the way she smiled at him, how her small, pinkish fingers clutched hard on to the man, as if she didn’t dare let go. He observed the way she looked up at him, the way her eyes glistened as if he was her whole world.

Loki didn’t realise it, when something snapped the strings of his heart. _ Anger _ , he thought.  _ Annoyance _ . He was annoyed at how this woman could ignore it when the world was in balance, on the verge of war, the entire responsibility of it still in their hands. He was annoyed at how she could still smile through it, her eyes shining, her face glimmering like the full moon. He was annoyed at the way all of this made his heart leapt to his throat, and ache so much until there was nothing at all

And at the end of everything, he turned around and left. He returned all the way back to the rooftop. He ignored that heavy weight in his heart. 


	11. 10: Nothern Star

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mild sexual references ahead.

It rained so hard that night. And in the end I had to leave the scooty in the hostel’s bicycle shed, carry ‘Mister Chicken’s’ food container and the day’s earning on my way home in Jason’s car. He helped me to come up with excuses to my boss, which was quite a comical affair. In the end, Jason introduced himself as Mister Chicken’s most loyal customer, although he insisted I took his order home with me because he actually hated their dry fried chicken. My boss bought his excuses, let me off the hook with a warning glare, and as the rain drizzled slowly against the window panes, Jason dropped me off at home. I would have invited him upstairs, but then I had to remind myself that Loki was up there, probably sulking after being left alone for so long, and Jason didn’t know this part of information yet. In his mind, Loki appeared and disappeared god knows where (The god certainly did know. But Jason didn’t have to know that)

He dropped me off in front of the convenience store, the one Loki and I often visited to stock up on his Banana milk. 

“Thank you for the drive” I told jason, who reached across the center console and grasped my hand.

“It’s been nice today” He said, a soft smile on his lips. And gladly he didn’t make a move further than that. I squeezed his hand in return, he gave me his most gracious, disarming smile. I told him good night, he returned the gesture, and soon I was watching him whizz through the drizzle as I stood in the shade of the convenience store. 

When I entered the shop, the boy at the cashier gave me a noncommittal glance. The place was almost deserted, and figured this kid was doing the night shift. I was ceremoniously late. Hurriedly, I walked through the isles, throwing in a stack of chilled Banana milk for Loki, some -acks of Ramen and finally, since I had some fried chicken with me, a few cans of beer. It was not an easy feat, trudging these up three flights of stairs. When I moved past Missus Lee’s house, her TV set was turned up to the maximum. Not even a shadow of her was in sight. Old women probably drifted off to their sleep with the TVs turned on, I supposed. Finally I came up to my house, and there was not a sign of Loki outside. Inside the house, the lights were on, and my cat was sitting outside in the cold.

I had told Loki that he could go inside if it rained, and I’ve taught him the passcode. He used this rather conveniently, and since he hated the limited space in the interior, he didn’t stay inside often. He also hated the cat, because its fur made him sneeze. After all, there were a few things humanely about gods, and Loki’s was that cats made him sneeze, hence, he shoving her out the door.

When I entered, lugging all the bags heavy in my hands, Loki was sitting against a wall to the side of my bookshelf, a book in his hand. He must have come out from the bath just a while ago. It smelled lovely inside, perhaps after he used my bottle of shampoo completely (He liked to douse himself in it. For a man, he was quite a diva and he insisted upon personal grooming at all given times) his hair was still damp, long wavy curls splayed on his strong shoulders, and he was in one of his lousy godly green robes; those that I hated the most for very good reasons.

He noticed me enter but didn’t bother to make a move to welcome me. He gave a sharp look at the cat who immediately curled itself in a kitchen chair, and moved only the slightest to sit comfortably against the wall. This movement made his robe fall to a side, and it parted scandalously from the middle on his chest, revealing dark coarse curls of hair.

I hated it when Loki seemed attractive in the most unnecessary moments. I had rejected a kiss from the man that I’d had a crush on for months, only to return home for this. I cleared my throat and turned away.

“You’re home” He greeted me, still not taking his eyes away from the book. He often helped himself to my books and I never complained. It was him who complained the most. As it happened, Harry Potter didn’t give him much knowledge on Midgard, especially after he learned it was all fiction.  

“Did you just come out of shower?” I said, gesturing. at his damp hair. 

“No” he replied. 

“Your hair’s still damp” I remarked. Upon this revelation, Loki reached for his hair and felt it as if he was realising for the first time. I was right. His head was dripping wet. I suppose he had stayed too long in the shower, having shower thoughts and probably didn’t realise it.

“Anyway, I’ve got dinner” I said as I set down the grocery that I had brought along. 

“Tada!” I lifted the chicken that I’d gotten from Jason. They had run cold and certainly they were dry, but we could always pop it in the oven and they’d be good as new.

“Hm” He  nodded in acknowledgement, still reading. He’d been reading this particular book rather enthusiastically since I’d arrived home, and he’s never been interested in any of the books that I’d had with me. I was curious. I picked up a can of beer and a bottle of Banana milk along with the chicken and plopped down on the floor in front of Loki. We hadn’t been inside the house together for a long time, and this just felt weirds, intimate to an extent. But he didn’t seem to mind.

“What are you reading?” I asked him out of interest (and mild concern)

He shrugged. “I found something interesting” then he lifted the book in the air, high enough for me to see the cover; and my eyes nearly popped out of my skull, my breath hitching in my throat. 

“No….”

In his lap, split open, was my copy of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’. I didn’t remember where i had kept it, somewhere in my shelf I suppose. It wasn’t that I had anything against him reading it. But there were things about erotic novels that we all refused to talk about.

“I’ve been reading it for a while and it took me time to understand this” He went on in the likes of a professional book critique. He looked up at me, his blue eyes shining. “It’s all about sex, isn’t it?”

I wanted to melt and disappear into the ground. The very manner that he said the word made me wither. To be honest, I had not a single idea how sexuality worked among the gods. Was it the same as ours? or did they treat it like something sacred, perhaps a ritual? DId they have weird sex positions? Did they have some sort of a guideline, like the  _ ‘Kama Sutra?’ _

As much as I wanted to question him about all of these, I simply couldn’t bring myself to. If I were to be frank, having Loki in such a proximity, speaking of sex with such an ease made me weak.

I simply nodded and gulped hard. “Well, I wouldn’t recommend it as a good read,” I said, trying to revert his attention. But he ignored me and went on to read aloud from the book, making my insides twist.

“Suddenly...he grabs me, tipping me across his lap” A moment of thoughtful hesitation as I held my breath. and with curiously narrowed eyes, he continued.  “...With one smooth movement, he angles his body so my torso is resting on the bed beside him... He throws his right leg over  _ both _ mine and plants his left forearm on the small of my back, holding me down so I cannot move … He places his hand on my  _ naked _ behind, softly fondling me, stroking around and around with his flat palm. And then his hand is no longer there … and he hits me-” with a confused furrow of his brows “-hard.”

It was safe to say, for that few seconds, I was rendered completely speechless. For one, i had to say that it was a terrible depiction of sex in writing, pleasurable or otherwise, and secondly, regardless of how badly written it was, Loki, a prince, a god managed to read it in a way that made even the worst writing in the world sound like poetry.

And I think I had lost my mind. 

Loki looked up at me, appearing completely undeterred. If anything, he just looked bored as if he’d just read a seventh grade history book, not a piece of erotica. And he appeared to have questions, rather than actually being affected, which was concerning for me.

“I have a question,” he said, just as I had expected. I let out a sigh, and allowed the chicken to get even colder.

“Okay, just one”

He ignored me and bombarded me with an overwhelming number of them. “The piece was referring to sex, I assume, but it’s not a sort of intimacy that I am familiar with. Isn’t sex supposed to be pleasurable? It’s supposed to have a purpose; but here is a man causing pain to this woman, and…” He glanced at the book lying on the floor as if it offended him. “He causes pain, but it's implied she liked it too?”

I looked down at the book myself and cursed under my breath. it's going to be a very long night. And his explanation answered one of my own questions too. So dominance and submission was not really a thing in Asgard, as it happened.

“Do you really want to talk about this? I thought we were about to have dinner” I told him. He didn’t budge, keeping his lips firm, still curious. I realised I hadn’t a way out of this. I explained to him the concepts as less explicitly as possible. I felt like a scientist, explaining to a curious child about how protons and neutrons worked. Loki showed no discomfort, no sign of feeling...affected, regardless of just how embarrassed Ifelt. Thank god I was raised in an environment where we talked about these things. Had I really been raised in the part of Midgard that I now lived in, I would have died in a pit of shame.

In the end, he just stared at a blank place curiously, seemingly zoning out. “I am in disbelief, yet again” he admitted and turned to me. “So humans not only kill each other but they kill themselves and inflict pain on their lovers sexually because that gives them pleasure?”

I felt my insides twisting in discomfort, yet I nodded. 

He shook his head. Loki was genuinely disturbed, as if I had admitted to him that humans swallowed kittend in whole. “That’s just...horrendous. Sex is supposed to pleasurable. It serves a purpose; procreation”

For once Loki, who had killed more than hundred people and appeared on my rooftop, actually sounded like a god. I wanted to weep by his analogy. So it was how aliens saw humans. No wonder that they never wanted truce but was always ever ready to attack. They thought humans were crazy.

I shrugged. “Here on earth, everyone had a preferance, even with sex”

“That’s one terrible preference to have” Loki admitted, his voice still shrill with disbelief. He then glanced at the book. “And humans also think it’s good literature”

“So Asgardian literature doesn’t include erotica?” I asked.

“What’s that?” He wanted to know. I pursed my lips. So Loki knew what the internet was, all about Koreaon Mythology and completely foreign languages in its original tone, but still didn’t know what erotica was? One strange alien he made, truly. Patiently as I could, I explained what it was. And that only lead to even more confusion.

“But why does it need to be in writing? It gives no new knowledge. Everyone knows how to have sex, it’s in the natural make-up” He argued.

“Yeah well” I sighed. “Here on earth, that’s pleasure reading”

He frowned. 

“Look” I finally found my strength to put an end to this conversation. “I’ve had a long day and its getting late and i’m very, very hungry that I can swallow you whole, so please” I reached out, grabbed a bottle of Banana milk, stuck a straw on it and handed it to him. “Let’s eat”

He looked at me, unsmiling as he took the bottle of milk in hand. “I would be too big to swallow in whole” He said with the straightest face ever, and given the last conversation we had, that was the most inappropriate thing he could have said. I felt my face heating up, my mind whirling. And it wasn’t helping that Loki’s robe had moved even further that I could see more of that graceful length of his neck, down his chest; that dark curls peeking through…

“Ugh” I groaned and picked up the box of chicken, carrying it to the oven. It had dried cold, the oil making the crust mushy and the crisp entirely gone. But I couldn’t even begin to care. I had lost my appetite, and chicken was the very last thing I needed.

  
  


In the end, neither of us could eat. Loki took one look at the fried chicken after I had returned it from the oven, said that it looked unappealing and opted to have about a dozen bottles of Banana milk. I kept the beer for future use and had Banana milk myself. We both sat in the quiet, lost in our own worlds, me thinking about Jason, about everything we could be, and Loki thoughtfully sipping on what could be his fifth bottle. For a god, he really hung onto things in particular for too long. He was obsessed with Banana milk and he would have nothing else.

The rain started pattering outside, and that meant Loki couldn’t sleep outside tonight.  _ Great _ , I thought grimly, not appreciating having to share the room with him. I  took a glance at Loki who was still obliviously sitting on his side, deep in thought. He did a lot of creepy blank staring, his eyes glimmering like bright blue crystal pools. At times when he wasn’t doing any blank staring, he would be talking, sulking or complaining; occasional reading included. Tonight, his staring was beginning to climb up my nerves; so did his presence in my room. I needed a distraction, so I decided to pick up my computer and check on my emails, perhaps the schedule at college for the next day, which is monday. Later on I would look for temples with dangly iron bridges and high staircases, and maybe even check out a few episodes of that particular TV show.

I opened my emails, and that’s when I saw it; an invitation for an audition of an agency I had no recollection of applying. It wasn’t a big one. I must have sent an application while drunk disappointed. But still, it’s been ages since I saw one in my inbox, and I was indescribably happy. I let out a little scream of enthusiasm, and my copy of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ came hurtling across the room towards me.

“Too loud, I’m deafened” Loki claimed from behind me. I picked up my laptop and held the screen up in his direction. “Doesn’t matter because I’m going to an audition!”

At this, he seemed mildly interested. He moved forward, changing his seating position, his eyes narrowed at me. “What is that?”

I was more than accommodating when I had to explain what I had come to Seoul for. Excited, I crawled my way towards him, and our proximity didn’t even occur to me when I plopped down on the floor by his side, showing him the email that I had received.

“You see, this is what I am here for. I used to live in Canada but I left six months ago and came here so I can become a singer. So this-,” I gestured at the email. “-Is the start of the selection process”

Loki gaped at the laptop screen blankly as it clearly made no sense to him. “Singer?” He turned to me. “Well, if you are any good at it, you don’t have to get selected; you can just sing”

He sounded as if all I’d said was a jargon of nonsense, and that made me laugh. “Well, I am good at it, I suppose…” I muttered shyly. “But if you have to be a professional singer, you have to join an agency” I sat up on my knees, demonstrating with my hands. “It’s sort of like an office where people in suits work. But only, we get trained to do better, we sing on stage and earn money”

Loki still looked unconvinced and absolutely perplexed. “Why do you need to do that if you are good at it?” He asked.

“Because some people could be better than you” I replied simply and grabbed my laptop. Then I searched through google to demonstrate to him what I would be doing. On the screen, there was a bunch of girls dancing on a stage dressed in beautiful, colourful, funky attire; for a moment it was their singing and the pop music that dominated the quietness over the sound of the rain. I paused it and looked up at Loki, who just stared at the screen, at the girls frozen in questionable angles, with a look of absolute distaste.

“Please do not tell me this is what you aspire to do” He said.

I shrugged.

“But why?”

“It’s my dream”

Loki only stared at me as if I had made the biggest mistake of life. 

I put my laptop aside, feeling a little deflated in my heart. Not everyone shared the same sentiments as myself about my dream; like my father, Loki didn’t seem to understand me as well. It wasn’t like I was going to consider everyone’s opinions when deciding my future career, but every time someone show disappointment, my self confidence just deflates like a balloon overnight. I knew that I didn’t even have to think about what Loki felt. He was from outer space where entertainment was not a business and was a wholly different thing, and most certainly his taste in music did not involve girls dancing in skimpy dresses. But still his comment didn’t make me feel any better. If anything, I just felt even more discouraged, as if I was striving to achieve something that lied way beyond my reach.

Dejected, I sat before my laptop, my legs folded and opened a new tab. “Whatever. I probably won’t even go” I sighed. “Lets just search for that temple of yours”

There was a moment of quietness, Loki not even bothering to move from his position. I stared down at my laptop as it took its sweet time to load my searches.

“ _ Are _ you any good?” Loki suddenly piped up, his voice echoing in the quietness of the room. 

“Huh?” I glanced at him. 

“At singing” He added, gazing at me intently.

I licked my lips, contemplating things. To anyone who would ask me this question, or anything along the line even, I would jump at the opportunity and take the chance. I mean, I loved singing, I loved music. With all the sorrowful, unfortunate things that had happened in my life, music had been my only console, the one thing that I always found solace in. My father wasn’t a musician, but my mother used to sing. I had vague memories of her, singing me to sleep, singing in the kitchen as she cooked, as she wrung the clothes or when she lounged lazily by the window with her pet cat in her hands. Music helped me reminisce about her, it helped me find solace even in the hardest, gloomiest times. Music, for me, was a breath of fresh air when everything about life was suffocating me. And I’d never hesitate, never, when given a moment to show what I loved. 

“Do you want to give a listen?” I muttered slowly, and Loki tilted his head. He said nothing, but I could see that genuine curiosity in his eyes. He wasn’t saying no. A smile spread across my lips as my heart inflated with excitement. I lived a very sheltered life and I hadn’t many chances to sing my heart out in a position to let the world see, except for all the auditions that I’d failed. So to be able to play and sing in front of a god, although he was one of the oddest, for me, was everything.

I hopped up on my feet, smiling to myself and located my guitar in a corner underneath a pile of discarded clothes. It was a second hand box that I’d bought myself back in Canada. I hadn’t any idea that it was special until Jason saw it one time we met, and it turned out to be of the finest brands. Its body was a pale brown, the fret board a contrasting shade of mahogany. Even as I sat down on the floor in front of Loki, seeing the way he looked at my guitar gave me a flicker of pride. He probably knew what it was (Loki knew a lot of things from all the reading that he does) but probably not that it was a  _ Gibson. _

“This is a guitar” I explained, just in case, and he gave me a sharp look of annoyance. He really hated being told things, even if it was something he probably didn’t know. And when he did not respond to that, I cleared my throat and balanced the instrument in my lap.

“So, anything particular that you’d like to hear?”

He just stared. It took me a moment to realise that he was an alien and he probably didn’t know who  _ Coldplay _ was, unless somebody wrote an autobiography on them. 

“Right” I sighed and thought out my options. Something gentle, something nice. I tuned the strings for a moment, warmed up my voice, and as he patiently waited, I looked up at him, my gaze fixed into his crystal blue pair of eyes, and I began to sing.

My mother, despite being Japanase, was a big enthusiast of everything of the west. She dressed western, she ate western and most importantly, she sang western. There was a couple of her favorites that I grew up with.  _ Bonjovi, Backstreet boys, Westlife _ ; all the bestowed singers that brightened the 1990s. I was still a child back then, yet I remembered my mother’s favorites like the back of my palm. And even after she was gone, I held onto the kind of music that I imagined that she would love. I would hear a song on the radio, playing in the bus on my way to school or in a store on the sideroad as I was out shopping for the summer; and I’d think,  _ ‘Mama would love this _ ’, and often I would imagine her singing to herself in the garden, my hand in hers, the golden sun in her hair and her bare feet dancing over the dew on the grass. 

There were many pieces that I'd decided that Mama would love, and tonight I sang to him one of them, slow, gentle and beautiful. I buried a part of my soul in my tone, in every chord I strung, in every word I serenaded. And behind my closed eyes, I imagined my mother moving slowly across the kitchen floor, her feet turning pink upon the linoleum; her singing with me.

_...Every long lost dream led me to where you are _ _   
_ _ Others who broke my heart they were like Northern stars _ _   
_ _ Pointing me on my way into your loving arms _ _   
_ _ This much I know is true _ _   
_ _ That God blessed the broken road _ _   
_ __ That led me straight to you…

Every time I sang, I felt closer to my mother. it could have been only eight years that I had felt her warmth, her existence. And now she was so much as a memory for me, a distant dream that I only had vague recollections of, bits and pieces of us picked from everywhere that they’d scattered about, desperately put together to create an image of her, to hold onto and to remember that she had been here. At the end of everything, I did realise that she was gone, that it was only the fragments of her that was left behind. But still, I had her voice with me, coming right from my heart. Every time I sang, I felt closer to her; for every single word, tone and melody that I created, I did in _ her _ voice.

When I was done, I didn’t even realise that my eyes were damp. It’s been so long since I last sang like this; no pressure of succeeding, no fear of failure; just me, my voice and my guitar. It was only now I realised just how splendid it felt to sing for myself, my own happiness and indulgence without my future on the line, trying to achieve what seemed just so far away. I fluttered open my eyes, only to look at the only audience I had.

It was the first time I was seeing him like this. Loki’s brilliant blue eyes were transfixed on me; and there was a tiniest ghost of a smile donning his lips. I felt something warm inside me, something indescribable, something I had never felt before. I had always feared my audience, for my audience had almost always been someone who’d rejected me, who’d never seen my worth. I wasn’t much, seeing as to how far a singer would go. But I dreamed big, and there was not many who acknowledged that. Loki’s silence, his expression of surprise...and something more, gave me hope. 

I returned his gaze in hopes that my gratitude to him could be expressed in this way than any other. There was something about his eyes, his expression that had me bound to him. For a moment, I felt spellbound, mesmerized. Perhaps he was casting a magic of his on me, or perhaps it was just the proximity, the heat of the moment, and the brilliance of his eyes.

Then he suddenly turned away, breaking the spell. He cleared his throat.

“So?” I asked him, finally finding my voice, my hands wrapped around my guitar, holding it close for the treasure that it was.

A moment of contemplative silence as he gazed at me. Then he pursed his lips. “When is this... _ selection process  _ of yours?” 

“The audition?”I glanced at my computer of which the screen had darkened. “I haven’t checked it yet”

He gestured at the computer himself. “Then you better”

Curious as to what he was implying, I set the guitar aside and and turned it back on. Just as I switched back to my email, Loki finally climbed up on his feet. HIs bare feet padded against the carpet as he moved past me towards the front door.

I narrowed my eyes at the screen, reading the details once, twice, and I let out a loud gasp. 

“Oh my god!”

“Yes?” Loki returned from the doorway, and I looked across the house at him. He stood by the door, it wide open and he was in a different attire; something less lousy but still comfortably godlike, a _ nd green _ . The rain had stopped, and the light out in the rooftop made him appear ethereal. A prince, a  _ god _ .

“How did you know?” I shrilled at him, and he smiled. He was beautiful, his smile so disarming, and for a moment, I forgot the predicament that I had in hand.

“You will  _ win _ , Miyawaki Momo” He said to me then, and the words fell into me like poetry. He hadn’t said a word on how he felt about my music, although the glimmer in his eyes seemed to imply something. And then this. It was safe to say that my heart didn’t take to it so well. It was exhausted; my heart. Never did I have  to deal with so many emotions within twenty four hours of a day. 

Once he was out the door, closing it gently behind him, I placed a hand on my chest and glanced down at the email once more.

In less than ten hours, I would be doing yet another audition that decided my fate. I couldn’t believe it that it never really occurred to me. I couldn’t believe it that Loki had seen  it all before I had myself.

  
  


It was damp and disgusting outside, but he had no choice. Loki lied across the ledge of the building, the dark clouds haunting the sky above him, millions of emotions clouding his mind. He couldn’t go back in there again, lest he lost a part of him and he wouldn’t be himself anymore. He wasn’t sure what was happening; never had he lost his composure in the way he was beginning to, now. He was a god, one who had travelled across the universe, seen and experienced things that never in his life had he imagined he would; yet, through this all, he had been able to keep himself together, his mind more at peace. But tonight, he listened to a broken little Japanese girl singing her heart out, tears gleaming in her small doe eyes; and now he felt as if his entire world has shaken and was just about to crumble apart.

This was not what Loki had come to earth for. He was sent here with the promise of a regime. He had come here to rule. And although it was the last thing he wanted to achieve in Midgard right now, he still had a task, a task upon which the safety of an entire country depended on. Loki should be out there fighting the beastly beings, protecting the countrymen, striving to take back what was he always owned. But instead, with his mind completely derailed, he most drunkenly lied on a wall, thirty feet above the ground, the girl’s voice echoing in his ears.

And also what he had witnessed that night in the campus. He would have most arguably forgotten it by purpose, but as it happened, his mind seemed to heed no control over what it occupied, and now all that it did was her. 

Against a gush of wind, Loki raised his arm and laid it over his eyes. The world has become gloomy, as if danger had drawn closer; yet he was nowhere near the Tesseract, nowhere near of knowing who his nemesis was and was given the responsibility of protecting a mortal from whatever his nemesis was going to be. If he was to be frank, he’d rather be imprisoned in Asgard than having to deal with all of this. Loki had never been the one to protect or fight for the greater good. He was the trickster, the calculating one and occasionally his older brother’s nemesis. He’d been his right hand man for the longest time in the past, overshadowed by his greatness. Yet, none of it had given him any responsibilities. And now, he was tired of it. He supposed ‘being good’ had never been in his nature.

“What troubles your mind, young prince?” A voice interrupted his thoughts, and he didn’t have to think twice to know what it was. This time around, Loki didn’t attempt to fight. 

He sat up, flinging his legs over the ledge. Before him, standing in the middle of the rooftop was the old sorcerer.

“What do you want, magician?” He asked tiredly. It wasn’t that he was particularly exhausted. It was only that he disliked having to converse with his sort. The man reminded him of his father, and Loki hated his father.

The sorcerer stepped forward, and his voice echoed in his mind. “Not here”

Loki blinked, and soon he came to realise that, in a flash, he’d been transported to a different place he didn’t identify, somewhere away from his familiar grounds. Loki sat on a nearby wooden bench, picking and tugging on his palm. He had seen the sorcerer just once within the day, but still he knew that this man meant bad news. The second visit had already made him anxious.

“Where is the Tesseract?” Loki asked him before the man could say anything else. There was nothing he was interested in than that, at the moment. The old man knew where it was, Loki was absolutely certain. But the reason why he was so reluctant to disclose its  whereabouts was beyond him. 

“It…” Started the man and clasped his bony hands together. “Is in a safe place...for now”

Loki pressed his lips in a firm line. “How could I be sure that it's safe…?” He narrowed his eyes. “..That its not being used for a form of... _ world domination _ ?” The old man certainly didn’t look the part. But neither did the Titan and the Titan had nothing else in his mind. He could never be too sure.

The old man laughed, an unpleasant cackle echoing in the quietness of the night. “Young prince. Had I been your enemy, I would have used it a long time before now”

Loki tilted his head. It was a fair point. There had been nothing done with its power. It was hidden for sure, within a wall of impenetrable energy that he couldn’t sense through, himself.

“Hm” He agreed, “Then why have you come to me now, sorcerer?”

The sorcerer walked the length of the gravel path before him. It had to be very late in the night. The city was dead silent save for the slow rustle of the leaves. Under the dimmed street light, for a moment, the old man appeared slightly menacing, as if the news that he had brought along was dark and sombre as the night.

“There is something that I shall let you know” He said. Loki remained quiet, urging the man to continue. He stopped pacing and approached him in small steps, his robes sweeping the ground underneath. 

“Young prince” His voice echoed in his mind now. Loki hated when he did that, but now was not the time to share his sentiments.

“They’re coming and when they come, they will come for you. Therefore, you must not have the cube in your possession”

His voice was a low whisper, racking his brain. Loki narrowed his eyes at him. “Who are  _ ‘they’ _ ?” 

He mentally calculated the possibilities. The Chitauries? For he did not succeed in stealing the cosmic cube for him? The Titan? Or was it the avengers? 

“The anomalies” Said the old man.

“The  _ anomalies? _ ” Loki reiterated curiously. He had heard of all sorts of beings across the universe, and that wasn’t a name that he could particularly recall.

“That’s what they call themselves. The peculiar, the odd ones out”

“What are they?”

Instead of verbally responding, the old man approached him in a long stride and placed a hand on his temple. Loki knew what was coming, and he closed his eyes, groaning as a sharp pain coursed through his head. He could withstand pain very well; but this was of another level, as if someone was pouring water on his scalp agonizingly slow.

And soon, images started to appear in his mind, followed by the sorcerer’s voice. There were creatures, seemingly mortal but something about them made them stand out. Women with blood dripping from their mouths, long white tails surrounding them like petals of a large flower. Pale, slender women, their faces curtained by their long, dark manes of hair; men that shift shape, a man with a body of a bird and a head of a human; all these creatures he had heard of in his brief visits to this land in the past, certain he had encountered and most, he had read in the myths. For all he knew, these creatures had evolved from the past to now, appeared much, much different from what he’d remembered. Thousands of years could change everything. 

The old man’s voice echoed in his mind like a quiet wisp of wind.

_ ‘They are the anomalies. Gumihos and Gwishins; Powerful Dokkaebis, Inmyeongjo’s that wished they were different; giants and dwarves, all that had evolved through time. They’ve all lived among us, living in the shadows, striving to live ordinary lives, trying not to stand out’ _

Suddenly, the visions changed. Soon he was seeing blurry images of men being attacked, children abandoned, women fearfully running for their lives.

_ ‘As they evolved, they became more lenient to suit ordinary human lifestyles. But luck never stood on their side. There was always something different. Gumiho’s had their tails springing out, Gwishins’ quiet and sombre demeanour always struck to humans as terrifying. For dokkaebi, their immortality was nothing but a curse, a threat. They’re all creatures that had waited for , for freedom, and somehow, be a part of humanity or perhaps even more…’ _

The images changed then; and soon, his own silhouette stood among a hastily passing crowd in his golden armour with the tesseract in his hands.

_ ‘It was then that you came about. The reason why you landed in Seoul would forever remain a mystery; but certainly your arrival gave them hope, as well as a threat to humanity’ _

It was too much for Loki to handle, far too much. Mortals with birth defects of demons and supernatural creatures, evolving through time and now standing a threat to their world; and then the arrival of Loki himself becoming both a danger and a blessing to this land. He wasn’t certain why he had ended up here; it’s the tesseract’s energy that decided destinations. And somehow he felt like he was a large part of the impending destruction.

_ ‘So what…’  _ Loki mustered in his mind _. ‘What must I do?’ _

_ ‘You shall not take the tesseract until they’re defeated, until it’s safe for you to go’ _

With this, the sorcerer exited his mind, and Loki fell back against the wooden bench, trying to recollect himself. He felt as if the world was spinning around him. Its them that had sent the Bulgasari, and he couldn’t even imagine what more awaited. Gumiho’s were dangerous creatures; they killed and devoured on the livers of young men and Gwishins, though fairly harmless could possibly have evolved. It it was revenge that they sought, they’d somehow have their ways. And against them all -an unknown number of anomalies- Loki had to stand alone.

“Are you hurt, Your highness?” Echoed the old man. Loki held a hand up in the air. “The mind thing….” He gasped. “Please don’t do that again”

“You’re very resistant, my lord,” he replied and moved even closer. Loki pulled back, afraid that he was going to penetrate his mind again. But instead, he replied in a whisper. “This is  the best way for us to be discreet, lest they would hear us”

“How dangerous are they?” He whispered back.

“It’s not the powers, my lord. It’s the numbers” replied the sorcerer. “That is why the cube should never go to their hands”

“You say it's in a safe place” Loki clarified. “What would happen would I take it?”

The sorcerer looked up at him, and the intensity of his gaze was enough to communicate the gravity of the truth. “Unlike you, my prince, they’re mortals. They could not possibly yield it on their own. Yet with you…” He trailed off, and slowly, it dawned on him. 

“Oh…” He whispered, tilting his head. _He would be their pawn_. 

At the end of everything, that’s what he would always be. Manipulated and used, someone’s pawn for their own gain. He was getting used to it now, almost as if it was his second nature.

“Please, you highness” Said the old man, his wise, dark eyes falling into his own. “Do not try to find it. Its guarded, its protected. Do remain vigilant, they may try to approach you, convince you…”

And then his voice in his mind. ‘ _ Believe no one, trust no one but yourself, my prince. Prepare for battle, for anything unexpected…they will try everything that they can’ _

For once, Loki actually feared what awaited him. When he’d first fallen at the mercy of the Titan’s grasp, he’d been helpless, and the promise that his words had actually given him solace, until he learned the truth. He now knew how the enemies worked. They came to you as a consolation, a blessing; a deception, only to serve you no mercy and tear your world apart. Indeed, they will try everything they can. But Loki too, would in defense, give all the might he had. After all, it was his chance of redemption, to pay for his sins, his atonement. He was a warrior, a god, a king by birth, and the anomalies would soon fall to the mercy of his sword.

“Anomalies ...immortals…” Loki thought aloud for himself and looked up at the sorcerer. “What have I to fear?”

The look in the man’s eyes seemed to prove him wrong.

“My lord” He called.

“Yes”

“The mortal” The Sorcerer's voice shook as he spoke. “Do you...do you  _ love her _ ?”

At the mention of her, something strong and heavy settled inside his heart . The entire night, it’s been thoughts of her that had occupied his mind, in a way that had never happened before. Perhaps it was the heat of the moment, perhaps it's because in this strange land, in this world she was the only companion he had. 

No, Loki decided grimly, ignoring the image of her face imprinted in his mind. He didn’t  _ love her. _ Loki wouldn’t do love, and certainly he would never love a mortal, he would never be like his brother. Love, for him was deceptive, superfluous; outrageous. It would never be a part of his life.

“I do not” Loki replied unhesitatingly. He didn’t even have to think twice. He had never been more certain.

“That would be wise, my lord…” The old man whispered, his dark eyes widened insistently. “Do  _ not _ fall in love with her...do  _ not _ let them find reasons to waiver your heart”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gumiho - Nine tailed fox. A Korean demon which is usually a woman with nine fox tails and killed young men to devour their livers.  
> Dokkaebi - Goblin. An immortal mythical creature which plays tricks and had the power of invisibility.\  
> Gwishin - Female ghosts.  
> Inmyeonjo - A bird with a head of a man.


	12. 11: Fight of the lovers

There were very few things that gave me anxiety. I was usually quite daring, and always had a penchant for adventure; it was only that the opportunity never arose. And now that it had, I could say that my valiance towards just about anything had increased tenfold. 

And auditions, for me were always a root of trepidation. I suppose it was because I’ve failed so many and so many times that I had naturally associated them with cause of failure. With every failed audition, a part of my confidence died, and the fear for my future increased. I had abandoned a year of college education back at home to come here, all for the sake of achieving my dreams. With every instance of failure, regret would ignite, haunting me like a quiet ghost. I had disappointed my  father, I had disappointed myself, I had expectations which were impossible to achieve, and as I got older, my chances were slimming. And if anything, there was still a possibility where none of this would work out at all.

But this morning as I stared at myself in the mirror, I had a moment of enlightenment. I’ve been living with a bad tempered alien who’d threatened to kill me for more than a week now, we were in a quest of finding a cosmic cube in order to protect humanity. If I was brave enough to volunteer myself for a greater cause, even if it meant that I could possibly get killed, just how bad could a failing audition be? I would still have another chance, another audition would come up.

But would we not find the cosmic cube, would we not fight the unforeseeable force behind its disappearance, we would most certainly lead the entire country to apocalypse and we wouldn’t get a second chance in that.

I was indeed aware of it not being the most practical comparison. But at least that helped me keep my worry at bay. 

 

The thing about the entertainment industry was that the appearance always held a higher value. If you didn’t look good, if you didn’t carry yourself with an air of confidence, if you didn’t make good first impressions, your chances of making it far in the industry would be increasingly low. So for the audition today, I picked a simple yet catchy outfit that I felt would compliment my complexion. The trick was to stand out in a good way, catch everyone’s attention and always smile. Also, make up.

Once I deemed I was prepared, I went outside into the early sunny morning in search of my only available second opinion. Loki was sitting on the ledge as the breeze whizzed by, his soft hair dancing around him. Moody as ever, he was particularly quiet that morning. The other days he was usually found complaining aloud about how indolent humans were. Back in his planet, everyone rose early and were basically battling the other aliens to keep the nine realms at peace. When they’re not battling the other aliens they’d be planning  _ how _ they’d battle the other aliens, or partying. I hadn’t followed up with any of my doubts to his explanations, especially given that Loki was the epitome of idling about more than anything. More often than not I’ve found him just reading on the ledge.

But today, he was particularly more lethargic; or preoccupied, even. I couldn’t really tell.

The past few days I’ve accustomed myself with calling him a variety of names, names that at times he quietly approved of (As long as it had the element of respect, he was quite adamant with that) and the other times his disapproved with a mere roll of eyes.

And in a situation where Loki seemed to be lost within himself, the trick was to annoy him, and it always worked like magic.

“Hey Loki” I called him, knowing fully well that he would not respond. As it happened, there was a bunch of people in particular who could address him by his name, unless we were under duress at which point he wouldn’t really mind. I took a step forward. “Loki? Lokes? Lokster?”

That got his attention, finally, and he hopped off the ledge.

“Stop calling me that” He growled. I ignored him. I was not going to take his grumpy on a fine morning where good things were about to happen. I stood before him, poised and arms out, displaying my hard work on my outfit.

“What do you think?”

He frowned. “Of what?”

“Of my outfit!”

He still looked utterly perplexed as if he’d been asked to choose between types of bananas. I let out a sigh, my hands resting on my hips. “Look, this is important for me, help me out, okay? I help you find that cube of yours, you tell me if I’m good to go for the audition”

He still didn’t look very convinced. “I thought you were going to sing”

“Well yes, but the outfit is important”

Loki stared at me for a couple of minutes, and he did that for so long that his eyes began to cross. 

“Well?”

He cleared his throat, looking away. “I don’t know, I’m not the one to ask”

“Fine” I groaned and returned to my room. I must have been stupid enough to ask an alien god who didn’t know what the hair dryer was for. Besides I was certain he’d seen and perhaps dated women ten times more beautiful than a little Japanese in a skimpy dress. Disappointed, I picked up my bag, my phone and headed out. Loki was standing by the ledge, just where I left him, exactly how I left him, and his inquisitive eyes gazed after me as I moved across the rooftop to the stairs.

“Hey Lokes, be good! Wish me luck!”

“Don’t call me that!” He yelled at me in return. 

 

On my way down the stairs, my phone pinged, and I paused at the foot of the iron steps, just in front of Missus Lee’s house where she had wrung out her old sheets to dry. The entire place smelled like detergent and old ladies; but that didn’t matter because Jason was waiting downstairs to pick me up.

‘Will be there in five’ said the message, and I couldn’t help myself, I did a little dance around on my own little tune, indescribably happy. Although I had been initially quite so doubtful about this, I realised, as I woke up this morning and saw his messages pinging up in my inbox, that perhaps this arrangement could actually work. My crush, now my boyfriend. How bad could this actually be?

“Momo!?!” Just as if on cue, Missus Lee. I did get around to pay half of what I indebted just a few days ago, and although Loki suggested we did this his way so we could get the rent off our backs (I didn’t even want to think about what his way could possibly be) I refused. So it was probably her, just as always, all prepared to ruin my day. I let out a heavy sigh. It’s better to deal with this right here, right now. I couldn’t risk her going up the stairs and finding Loki instead.

“Yeah Missus Lee?” I called back as I approached her front door. I didn’t even have to knock, the door  was ajar, and as soon as I stood at the foot of her doorstep, she called me in.

I had been to Missus Lee’s house only a handful of times, mostly to fix things or sometimes help her carry things. She’d been none too grateful in either of the occasions, which I didn’t mind, really. She was generous enough to let me stay in the apartment with an overdue of two months. 

The inside of her house looked exactly the same as I remembered. it was mostly empty save for a few absolutely necessary pieces of furniture, a sewing machine, and another clothing rack inside where she’d hung all of her undergarments to dry. I called out to her, not finding her in my peripheral vision, and upon getting no response, I followed after the noise, which brought me to her bedroom which had otherwise been out of bounds for me.

And this morning, I happened to learn why. 

The bedroom door was wide open, which was a first and unexpected. I stood by the doorway, shocked and terrified by the sight before me.

Inside was nothing like I’d ever imagined for an old woman’s bedroom to be. If anything, it came off to me almost like a secret shrine. There were drapes of different colors hung down the roof, and one side of the room entirely was stacks and stacks of various fruits, vegetables and all sorts of delicacies that i could name and couldn’t. The walls were covered with stained sheets of calligraphy and drawing of old kings; and sitting on a futon amongst it all was a woman, whom I could only recognise as Missus Lee.

Hell, I had always thought there was something not normal about this woman, and I had been right all alone.

Missus Lee, perhaps sensing my arrival, climbed up on her feet. She was in a brilliant red and blue robe, a brightly colored headgear and she carried a large hand fan, unfurled and covering half her face as she glimpsed at me through narrowed eyes.

“Here she is! The mortal!”

For a moment, I stood frozen to the spot. 

“Come, come...sit down!” She gestured at the futon beneath her and rounded the short table which was laden with an array of items I could barely recognise. I looked behind me at the door which still remained ajar and tried to recall if I had closed the front door behind me. Loki was up there, just a few feet above my head, and his heightened senses could sense me anywhere within his range. The last thing I wanted right now was an angry god coming hurtling through the door, maddened by a shaman stealing his loyal slave.

“Sit down, child, I have not much time!” Missus Lee -the Shaman- demanded loudly, and I almost automatically fell to my knees on the futon. Missus Lee herself sat down behind the short table; slow, elegant and graceful that I was just too shocked to respond. All this time, I’ve been living over the head of a Shaman? And to think that she never knew about our resident alien god; she probably knew about it all along.

“Now...Miyawaki Momo. I have something important to share” Said Missus Lee, and as she did, she closed her eyes, her arms held up, the fan right above my head, and the other over the white, sweet scented smoke coming from something upon the table. 

I remained quiet, and although it was my first time meeting a Shaman for real, I did what I was supposed to be doing. I brought my hands together and kept them in the gesture of prays.

“Yes...I can see ...A bold young woman you are ...very bold, indeed”

I supposed she got that one right, given that I resided with the very man who a few days ago threatened to kill me. But still, quietly I waited.

Missus Lee continued. 

“Bold...strong willed. Would make a fine warrior, yes…”

Loki wouldn’t have exactly agreed on that, I thought. Although his choice of a slave was questionable.

“But-!” Missus Lee’s voice raised an octave, and I realised that this was the point I should start panicking, although I remained completely still, the hand fan open magnificently over my head. It tapped once  on my head, missus Lee’s old, wrinkly hand was shaking. And then suddenly, almost shocking me out of my breath, she opened her eyes, pushing herself with so much strength that the small table toppled over.

“Danger! Danger is imminent! It’s coming! No it’s there!”

A cold shrill ran down my spine, and almost instantly, I thought of the god up on the roof. “What-?” I finally awakened my voice, not finding the sheer strength to move. “What danger?”

Missus Lee, now completely absorbed into her Shaman form, heeded no attention. She was up on her heels, moving around the small confines of the room, the bells on her robes rattling, the fan held high above my head. “The prophecy...the prophecy! it’s almost time…”

“Prophecy?”  _ Prophecy? _ my head was unreeling, cold sweat forming on my skin. It wasn’t like we were in a fairytale where dragons and princesses and prophecies were true. It was real life and my almost boy-friend was waiting downstairs to drive me for an audition starting in twenty minutes.

 But then I paused. Indeed they were true. I had a prince living in my house with all his magic and super powers, and just less than twenty four hours ago I had seen a godzilla lying dead in Gwanghwamun. It was almost as if we were in a time where the thin line between reality and fantasy had completely blurred, where they both were one and the same.

“What prophecy?” I cried out once I found my voice, my hands pressed onto my chest as if they’d protect me from any harm that could come on my way. 

Missus Lee suddenly stilled, the fan slowly lowered and remained on her side. She stared up, and as she breathed, a thick, fine cloud of white smoke emerged, as if she’d been breathing fire. I held my breath, the clock ticked away; one second, then two. Missus Lee’s cold, hard eyes suddenly fell into mine, and I stopped breathing altogether.

Her voice, as she spoke was loud, precise and utterly authoritative. It was not her, but a force I had never her before.

  
  


_ “The god...will rise, _ _   
_ _ The king...will lose, _ _   
_ _ The lovers...will fight together… _ _   
_ _ The warriors...would fall… _ _   
_ _ Yet...at the end of it all, _ _   
_ __ The sun will be bright again”

 

I stared at Missus Lee for a moment, allowing the quietness to continue as I absorbed her words into my mind. My attempt was to remember the words with nothing amiss so that I can take it to Loki, to work out its sense together. As of now, from what I heard, I knew nothing; I understood nothing. I simply wasn’t intelligent enough to unriddle these words. It was only Loki, with his grand intellect, could actually break the code.

With a thud, Missus Lee suddenly collapsed onto the ground. It was only at this moment that I was able to recollect myself, although my mind was pretty much shattered, some bits of it still amiss. In fear that she had suffered a sudden cardiac arrest (Despite her very strong shamanic strength, her old age could have given away) I approached her on my hands and knees and hovered my head just above her mouth, only to hear her gentle, regular breathing. I moved away, placing a hand on her wrist, and shook her just the slightest, bracing myself for a possible attack all the while. She didn’t respond, even as I called her name. I would have lost my mind, imagining her to have gone into a coma; but then a small, almost inaudible snore came from her, continuing on regularly. I let out an uncomfortable laugh. The old woman, after so much of talking, had suddenly fallen asleep. 

 

I left Missus Lee in her room, to her quiet peaceful slumber. Then I took the flight down the stairs.  Even then, her words were all I could think about. I think it was plastered into my head, like a beaconing, and every second I spent it was urging me to rip it off, decode it, understand and act upon it. But this simply wasn’t the time. I had an audition to pull through, and I hadn’t much time left. I stepped out to the empty street, where I found Jason standing on the sidewalk, frowning at the phone in his hand. I called him slowly, and realised that my voice was uncharacteristically small.

“Oh! Oh there you are!” he exclaimed, almost as if I had been missing for a century and a half. “I’ve been trying to call you for the past ten minutes-,”

_ Call. My phone.  _ I reached into my pocket, then my bag. It took me a second to realise that I last had it in my hand and I must have left it behind in Missus Lee’s house. “Oh shit, I think I forgot it...up stairs”

Jason raised his brows at me. “You took ten minutes to get down the stairs?”

“Yes! I mean no-,” I cleared my throat. “I mean...I-I got caught up with my land-landlady…” I looked away in fears that he could easily read through my mind. It wasn’t like I was lying, but the exact reason why I was caught up wouldn’t have made a lot of sense to him. He was still waiting patiently for me to explain, so I sighed heavily. “...you know, about rent”

Jason slowly nodded his head, looking unconvinced. “Right” He pulled out the car keys. “So do you want me to pop up and get your phone, or?”

Panicking immediately, I held out my hands. There was more than one reason why just about anyone should not pop up the stairs. “Oh no, it’s fine!”

And then, in order to divert the conversation, I looked down at my watch which was not working, it was nothing but an accessory. “Oh my, look at the time!”

Jason consulted his phone himself and let out a lowly whistle. “You’re right. Let's dash”

 

The drive to the agency was short, during which Jason asked me all the generic questions which really helped me keep my thoughts at bay. Finally I was able to drag my mind back to the task at hand, and I was terrified if I had forgotten my lyrics, or even worse; my voice. Thankfully, however, Jason helped me through everything. He pointed out how pale I looked, and I decided it would be none too wise to disclose the reason behind it. He could just believe that it was the tension of the audition. He actually did; and all the way to the audition venue, Jason was at my feet, showering me with comforting and encouraging words; and at some point, holding my wrist.

I couldn’t believe my luck, really; how we had come from being casual friends to this within less than a day, only because a giant scaly godzilla attacked a god and we were smack dab in the middle of it. Fate worked in strange ways, I suppose.

At the foot of the hall, Jason held out a hand towards me. “Miyawaki” He called. 

“Hm?” I turned around, my entire body warmed up by the tension, the fear, the anxiety; but one smile from Jason, that glint in his eyes; he made everything better.

“Do you have anything after this?”

My heart beat went rapid at this, and I could physically feel it inside me. “Just...just a few hours to spare...before class”

Jason smiled. “Do I have the honour to steal you for that few hours?”

I could swear to god I would die at the words he said to me. “Uh…” I laughed nervously, tucking my hair behind my ear. I looked at him from under my lashes, too embarrassed to meet his eyes. “I-I guess so?”

He himself laughed, suddenly sounding shy, and when he looked up at me, I could clearly see his sentiments which were no different from mine. He laughed, and slowly patted on my arm.

“Well then, I’ll...I’ll be waiting outside” He met my eyes. “Best of luck, Miyawaki Momo!”

“Thank you!” I whispered aloud in return, and soon the staff were ushering me inside. As I stepped into the vast hall where so many other dreamers as myself were waiting, there was yet another voice echoing in my mind; a voice so gentle, mellow and so comforting, uttering their blessings in my ear.

_ ‘You will win, Miyawaki Momo’  _

And that was enough for me. 

  
  
  


If he was asked, Loki had a very good explanation as to why he was standing here. He was merely doing his job. He was protecting the Mortal. He was pretty sure nobody would actually bother to question him; for one, he was invisible to the rest of the world. And for the other, this contest of hers had no spectators; was in a very closed confine with four tired looking people watching the competitors dance and sing, seemingly heeding no interest in anything at all. Yet, he couldn’t exactly be sure that he wouldn’t be asked, for there’d been just one in particular who would only be too keen to know. 

It’s been hours now, and so far he’d watched a bunch of girls singing and dancing; certain so bad at it that he thought his ears were about to bleed. He was initially interested in this only to find out what the big fuss about it was, given how the mortal had reacted the previous night; and he understood now what she meant by there being people better than her. But only, she wasn’t right. So far, he still hadn’t heard a single one who could stand opposed to her. He was not being biased, really. He had no reason to. It was only that the other girls were mind-bogglingly terrible, and he had to give it to Momo. She could win.

As what could have been the fiftieth girl took the small elevated stage before the judges, the sound of someone clearing their throat sounded from beside him, and he rolled his eyes. It was a strange arrangement. Loki was guarding the mortal, and apparently the old man had taken to guarding a god.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, his voice gruff and echoing in the hall. Not that anyone else could hear him.

“I must ask you the same, young prince” The man returned. “I was merely following you”

“Didn’t know that included in your job description,” Loki looked away. “following me”

“There is no job description, sire. But I must indeed protect you” 

Loki’s throat tightened for a reason he couldn’t understand. On one hand, he wanted to punch the old man in his scrawny little face for saying that. Loki was a thousand years old god, and here was an old man on the verge of falling apart, pledging to protect him. He wanted to punch him and point out to him the unnecessity of it all. On the other hand, he just felt grateful. Never in his life had he had anyone knowingly protecting him, or pledging to do so. It was a first.

Loki cleared his throat and turned away, and a moment of silence followed. 

“Is she here, your mortal?” The old man asked after a moment. Loki opened his mouth, just about to respond with a snarky remark, ask him why he didn’t know already. But before he could even form a word, the answer to his question walked up to the small stage. Strangely, unexpectedly, something twisted in his heart. He didn’t even realise that he had started tugging and picking at his arm. He hadn’t seen her since last night, since he last heard her sing and since she toppled his world off balance for sometime. And then, as the old man’s words stayed in his mind, Loki left an illusion of himself on the rooftop and the entire morning he had walked around without aim, until he couldn’t take it anymore and followed her trace here. He didn’t know what his illusion was up to. When he himself wasn’t an illusion, when he and an illusion functioned at the same time, their conscious weren’t the same. It almost had a mind of its own. He couldn’t see what his illusions could, he couldn’t touch or feel what they did. And now was the first time he was seeing her for the day.

He didn’t imagine that it would happen again, more intensely than before. Perhaps it was because he hadn’t seen his companion for so long; suddenly, he was yearning for her. And she was beautiful. The sunny shade of yellow did really suit her. Back in his world, women did not dress in such dainty pastel colors. They were strong and valiant, their attire spoke for themselves, and Loki had always thought it made perfect sense. But now he couldn’t help but find Midgardian color coordinations ever so pleasing to the eye, especially on women who looked beautiful. 

Quietly, he took in the sight of her, the shine of her hair, the curve of her smile, the way her eyes disappeared into crescent moons, the way she moved across the hall like a terrified little turtle. But then, he was also acutely aware of just how wrong and unlikely they were, his emotions; sentiments he should not have experienced, that indeed needed to be force stopped. 

“Ah, there she is” Said the old man almost too cheerfully, and Loki threw at him an irritated glare. As thankful as he was for having such support in his troubles, Loki wished, myriad times, he could get him off his back.

The four people in the judge panel asked her a few questions which he tuned out as he was uninterested, and he stood with his arms folded and pressed against his silk scarf. He could almost feel the old man’s eyes on him, regarding him intently, but he couldn’t find a moment to address this as Momo soon started to sing.

And just as always, Loki’s world slowly came off its balance, tilting its way, yet again, towards her.

As would the moon in the dusk among clusters of stars, his mortal did indeed stand out in the crowd. His heightened senses somehow focused solely on the sound of her voice, so beautiful, so pleasing in the ear, and in his mind he remembered his own world. He thought of the blueness of the sky, the sound of cicadas at the edge of the mountains where tall pine trees lined the borders; the gentle rhythm of the massive waterfalls as they descended into the nether, the sweet earthy scent of the wind. He remembered himself crashing through the breeze, his hands tight on the reigns of his horse, its hooves rhythmically moving upon the rainbow bridge; and the sense of freedom in his heart. He remembered his days as one of the princes in the warrior three, of all the battles they’ve fought and won together, of everything that they could have been, only by the sound of her voice; and nothing more. He had thought he was the one with powers, magic and illusions. But for that one moment, it was her who had mystified him, taken him away.

And  _ clap _ .

Everything stopped, and he was back in the real world, the sounds and unknown voices echoed around him, and in his mind; silence.

“Are you...alright, young prince?”

Loki looked at the old sorcerer almost dazedly. It was as if she had cast a spell on him. He thought, perhaps this was how people felt like when  _ he’d _ cast spells on them; numbed and confused, a strange silence in the head.

“Young prince?”

“Huh?” He blinked, and his gaze focused on the sorcerer’s perplexed eyes. 

“Oh” He came to and cleared his throat. When he looked over at the stage, Momo was gone. And instead there was another small girl singing and frankly she sounded like she’d gotten something in her throat. Loki promptly tuned her out and scanned the remaining faces in the crowd.

“Sire, if I may…” Started the old man. “Are you certain…? Perhaps? The mortal…?”

“What?”

“Are you certain you aren’t…?”

Loki looked at him sharply. He didn’t have to word it out for Loki to understand what he insinuated. He was quite gripped by her singing, that was all. There wasn’t an ounce of care towards the girl, he was certain. If he was to choose between her and the tesseract in a battle, he would most definitely leave her to die.

“No” He replied.

“Oh,” the old man nodded. “That is...that is good because-,”

Loki narrowed his eyes. The truth was, he didn’t understand the exact reason. What did he mean by ‘reasons to waiver his heart’? What reasons? Why did it matter?

“Because what?” Loki interjected, looking at him curiously. First he was told not to retrieve the tesseract from its safety. Next he must restrain himself from falling in love -which wouldn’t happen anyway-, he wanted to know the reasons, and he needed a resolve.

The old man looked at him gravely, and turned away. “You’re young, and vulnerable-,”

“I’m not!” Loki snapped at him, letting his hands fall to his side. That couldn’t possibly be the reason. He didn’t realise that he had to continuously point it out to this old man that he was more than a thousand years old, almost immortal and had experienced million things in life. He was a god, a warrior. Vulnerability was for the weak; and that definitely wasn’t him.

The old man shook his head. “You may not understand now, but there are ways that they can affect you, ways you wouldn’t even imagine…”

“Like what?” He returned brazenly. “Like _ love?”  _ He laughed. “Oh for heaven’s-,”

“You never know, my lord,” he continued, his voice small as if he had already given up on this conversation. “You never know”

At this, Loki fell quiet. He didn’t feel compelled to argue on this one. Firstly, there was no basis of truth to his claims to argue upon. There was no possibility, no reason whatsoever, and Loki indeed knew better of himself. They were in possible battle, the tesseract was nowhere to be seen and he was to go against an unknown force of which the powers could be unimaginable. The last thing he needed right now was an old man telling him only the impossibilities.

And Loki, never in the thousands of years in his life, had been in love. So he was pretty sure that wouldn’t happen in this instance; not now, not ever.

“You know what?” Loki said after a while, and his eyes focused on the exit where a bunch of girls had lined up. The morning was gradually becoming warmer, making way to a scorching hot afternoon. It was a brilliant day to be outside, fighting possible demons. “I am leaving” He informed, and in a second, he was standing out on the curb, all on his own.

It was a pleasure, being able to snap in and out of places, leaving unnecessary presence behind. Around him were just ordinary people living their ordinary lives. He didn’t know where on earth he was; yet he could still faintly feel her presence, and that was good. Would he grow tired of roaming, he could always snap back to the rooftop, have a shower, fill up and energize, and roam again.

It wasn’t like he had many things to do now, did he?

“Look, my lord!” Just as if on cue. Loki turned around, rolling his eyes, wondering if he’d ever find peace again. 

“What?”

The old man was standing behind him, his hands clasped together, and his eyes were focused not on him but something beyond. He lifted a hand and pointed at the general direction of his gaze. “It’s one of them”

Loki followed his gesture, and just as he said, standing out among the ordinary crowd like a beaconing was a young woman; her skin a sickly greenish grey and her hair a tangled dark mess down her back. Her eyes were as empty as a bottomless abyss. He didn’t need any more than that to realise what it was.

And if anything, she didn’t appear even remotely menacing. Lost, perhaps, And so very confused. it was almost misguiding, anyone would have approached her with empathy, not understanding everything that she was possibly capable of.

Loki stood absolutely still. He was invisible, yet he wasn’t certain if he was so for everyone.

“Do you think she’d come for me?” Loki whispered to his companion.

“Not likely, my lord” The old man replied. “Gwishins are lost souls. And they always stand in four way junctions, waiting”

Loki looked up at the sun shining brightly through the jade green branches overhead. “Even in the broad daylight?”

“They can’t always be seen”

Loki went quiet at that, and he silently observed her. The woman couldn’t be older than the mortal he knew, but she definitely hadn’t had a kind life. Gwishins or lady ghosts were those who had died but couldn’t move on, mostly because they had something that had them bound to the mortal world. That’s what made them anomalies, Loki figured. They were neither human, nor dead. They were there, and again they weren’t. They lived, and then again, they didn’t. Must be a difficult life to live, he thought. To be something, yet again nothing. To be waiting and waiting and waiting. It was why they sought to be liberated, to have control.

It was why they needed the Tesseract.

“Is it possible for me to approach them?” Loki questioned, mostly from himself, but it was the old sorcerer who replied. 

“I would advise not to, sire. They are relatively less harmful, but that is not to say that they wouldn’t bring harm at all”

Loki let out a heavy sigh. He was a god, and anyway he was possibly on the top of their list of targets, and he was not easy to be killed. So what had he to fear? On the other hand, how was he to fight them would he not ambush them in turn? He couldn't possibly run and hide forever.

“That’s ridiculous” He told the old man and boldly headed on the woman’s direction. A brief conversation couldn’t possibly hurt. And it was just one female ghost.

Loki pushed past the swarm of early morning commuters, those who awaited the crossing signal to turn green, those who waited for the buses to stop by, and stood not too close and not too far from the ghost. If he looked at her past the grey skin and hollow eyes, he could say that she was actually quite beautiful. She must have been so, while she lived. Loki fisted his hands on either sides, knowing that he was defenceless in his invisible form. The old man appeared beside him.

“What are you going to do, my lord?”

“Talk” Loki returned.

“Well, I can assure you, Gwishins wouldn’t do a lot of talking”

“Well” Loki tilted his head to a side. “Why don’t we just find out?”

He approached the ghost in two strides and stood right before her. his height blocked the sun from falling upon her, leaving her in his looming dark shadow. The girl wasn’t very tall herself; she reached just up to his chest. Upon sensing his presence, her dark, soulless eyes lifted to stare into his own. Gazing into them made him feel hollow inside, as if he was seeing into a wormhole where things disappeared into, and never returned. Loki felt a chill down his spine. Yet, he reminded himself; he had seen worse.

“Lady Gwishin” He addressed her politely, yet in his most authoritative tone. The trick was to intimidate her, and by the way she clasped her hands together, he could say that it had worked. “Lady Gwishin, what keeps you here?”

There was a sharp intake of breath from the old man behind him, which he ignored. Other than that, there was not a sound of a response from the ghost, only except that she just gaped at him, her dark eyes widened, her grey lips stretched open revealing nothing but darkness inside. Loki cleared his throat.

“Fine then. Who sends you, who controls you?”

“Probably nobody, Sire” replied the old man. “And we...we must go”

Loki continued to feign ignorance. He needed to know  _ something, anything _ to prepare himself for what to expect, and perhaps send a message to his nemesis that he awaited them, accepted their challenge and had sworn to protect humanity at all costs. He would not let his sole opportunity to redeem himself, his only chance to show his father that he made a good king as much as a great warrior, that he had been worthy after all.

The lady ghost was still silent, but something about her face had changed. She was smiling, he noticed, in this eerie and ghastly manner, as if she was seeing deep into his soul. For a moment, Loki did actually feel vulnerable to her eyes.

“Lady Gwishin, are you mocking me? Are you trying to taunt me?” The gwishin’s silence andthe look in her eyes was unnerving for him. He wondered if she could actually hear him, if she understood him at all.

“Sire-,” The old man tried again, but he continued. 

“It must be difficult for you, being yourself, wanting freedom, craving for control…” Loki took a step towards her, and her eyes widened, glimmering like stars. Her smile had widened, as if his simplest gesture had pleased her.  

“There’s nothing to be content about, is there? you have no freedom, and you’d subjugate to the power of anyone, just to achieve that-” He paused, just as he felt a cold hand coil through his fingers. He looked down at his hand, and then at the Gwishin. She had her small grey hands wrapped around his own, one had its fingers threaded through his, clasping him hard while the other hung onto him, pulling him close. Loki furrowed his brows. 

“Huh?”

“Oh shit” Said the old man, finally dropping his formal demeanour. Loki glanced at him, feeling quite troubled, and then back at the ghost who now clung onto him as if her life depended on him. He tried to shake her off. 

“Let me go”

The ghost smiled at him, showing a hollow mouth and a set of greenish dirty teeth. The way her eyes bore into him made him feel acutely uncomfortable. “Go, get away!”

_ “Husband…” _ The ghost finally awakened her voice, a ghostly gruff whisper, echoing in his mind. 

“What?” Loki frowned, stiffening in response.

_ “Husband…” _

Loki, slowly sensing that things had gone blatantly and brutally so wrong, turned to his companion. The old man appeared utterly disappointed and shook his head. “This is what I said, my lord”

He looked at the ghost, then back at the old man. “I don’t understand-?”

“The woman”, the magician gestured at the ghost. “She’s been held back on earth by her insatiable desire for her lover”

Loki narrowed his eyes. Whatever that meant, it did not sound very pleasant. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“She must have been waiting for him” The old man sighed, turning away, looking dark as if Loki had promptly disappointed all the deities above. “And you approached her. Now she thinks she’d found him”

_ “Husband…” _ The woman cried again, and clung onto him even harder, her cold, slim body falling against him.  _ “Husband…” _

Loki bit his lower lip and stared down at the woman, feeling helpless. He now understood why the old man lost his composure, appeared so disappointed in him as if all hopes were lost. If it was him in his place, he’d have been the same; or even worse. He let out a heavy sigh. Things couldn’t possibly get any worse than that. The tesseract was missing, there was an unforeseeable force redying to fight against him, he couldn’t be with his mortal companion and had an old man who invaded his head when he pleased instead. And on top of it all, now there was a woman ghost, who ad possibly confused him as her past lover.

“Damn” Loki muttered under his breath himself.

  
  


I tried not to be, but throughout the lunch date I had with Jason, my mind was completely preoccupied. The events from that morning kept repeating in my head, and although I was thankful that I didn’t end up forgetting my lyrics or screwing up the audition, I was pretty sure that I didn’t do well. And frankly, it didn’t really matter anymore. The image of Missus’s Lee’s hollow dark eyes were haunting my brain, and I kept repeating her words in my mind like a mantra, lest I lost them in the labyrinths of my thoughts.

I stared almost dazedly as the waitress placed our orders on the table. We were in a Sushi restaurant, the one that recently opened just a few blocks away from my university. There was an array of dishes before me, varying from salmon sashimi to colorful caviar and maki sushi; all of which I hadn’t the appetite to devour, regardless of how scrumptious they appeared to be.

“These are great” Jason commented, his mouth full of rice and raw fish as he gestured at the food with his chopsticks. I usually had a very good appetite and was a big food enthusiast myself. But just today, my mind wasn’t in the right shape to think nothing else. I hummed, trying to smile, and took a moment to realise that I had been dipping a piece in Soya sauce for far too long.

Jason laughed good-heartedly as he rescued the piece of sushi and popped into his mouth. Then he passed one from his own share onto my plate. Afterwards he sat up straight, his eyes fixated on me.

“Okay, Miyawaki Momo. I know that you have something in mind” He said. 

He was right. I indeed had something in mind. I had three hundred thousand things in mind, but one in particular bothered me the most.

I let out a heavy sigh. “It’s nothing really”

It didn’t feel right to share my mental troubles with Jason, especially not the particulars that bothered me, given the gravity of the situation, given that I had no idea what was happening or what to expect. I knew that I could trust Jason with my troubles. Although he hadn’t taken very well to knowing Loki’s true identity, I knew he was just concerned for my safety, and he was right to be so. I must have been crazy at that time to make arrangements with an alien, I still was, to want to stick with that arrangement, to stick with him to the end of the line. But the question was, can I do it alone? Can _ we _ do it alone? Although we had a powerful god on our side, just how far can we fight this by ourselves?

I glanced up at Jason and saw him smiling at me encouragingly. Jason was intelligent. He was majoring in physics and he’d told me about how he won the new inventor’s prize back in high school for two years consecutively. He was reading for his second degree after having done his first back in Canada, and was here on a scholarship which he won straight to Kyunghee University, a college that you’d have to eat glass and metal to get into. True, we had magic and sorcery on our side, and Loki was very intelligent for his own good. But still we needed someone tech savvy and smart for the modern times on our side. We  _ needed _ Jason on our side.

“Is it your alien man?” Jason asked me quietly, a mischievous smile on his lips. I looked up with a sharp gaze.

“He’s a god, not an alien” I found myself defending him. 

Jason laughed, rolling his eyes, and I was laughing alone with him.

“Right” He chuckled “So is it your  _ god? _ Is he trying to start a cult and wanting to employee you as his messenger?”

I spluttered at this, gaining the attention of the fellow patrons in the restaurant, and I lowered my head in apology at the others. 

“No” I sighed.

“Then?”

I remained quiet, contemplating just how much I should disclose. I still haven’t told Loki about the incident from this morning, I wouldn’t be able to, not until I return home late in the night. Until then, it would remain stewing in my mind, and quite possibly, I might even forget the words. I know I should have written it down somewhere. But for some reason, I was afraid to. It would just become solid for me. It would become real. And I wouldn’t know how to deal with that myself, until I had shared this sentiment with my godly companion.

I looked up at Jason, then. At his eyes which were brown and warm and fell concernedly into mine, enclosing me in in his comfort like a blanket. I wasn’t sure how far he would understand me. But he would try to. I believed so. And he would listen to me. I would have gotten it off my back. And that would be enough for me. 

“Momo?” He prodded on, yet again. And I finally found myself giving in. I needed this.

“Alright” I clasped my hands together and met Jason’s eyes. “Remember this morning? When I came down late after meeting my landlady?”

“Uh-huh”

I nodded. “So what happened was…”

I told him everything, about hearing her calling for me, finding out her true identity and down to everything that she’d said. All through this, Jason listened to me as patiently as possible, not interrupting once although on his face it was evident that he probably thought it was all a crock of bull. I didn’t know how else I could put it, at least not in a believable manner. What I had seen and experienced was true and real, it couldn't be any more real than that, no matter how much I would try to believe otherwise. I could have washed it down to another one of Loki’s illusions. But he wouldn’t play tricks like that. He wouldn’t unless he had a good reason to, and I couldn’t possibly think of a good reason for this, given that he was ten times more desperate than I was to bring this to an end. So at the end of my account, I stared at Jason expectantly, and I half expected him to laugh and call me crazy. But he didn’t. Instead, he reached out and placed a hand on top of mine, looking at me sympathetically. I knew what that meant. He was calling me crazy, but in a gentler way.

I let out a sigh. “You think I’m nuts”

He smiled. “You are nuts and I like that”

I felt warmth on my cheeks, yet I didn’t reply, letting him to continue. And he did.

“The weird thing is, Momo. As ridiculous as it is, this whole Shaman and prophecy, we have a man from outer space with super powers and that  _ could _ make this whole thing possible”

“Exactly my thoughts” I agreed.

He nodded, then pursed his lips. Something had shifted, I can see. He agreed with me, but he had something else in his mind. He looked at me, and when he did, it was genuine concern etched across his face, his eyes warm and worried, perhaps, all for me. I felt that warmth, I basked in it, knowing that there was a person on my side, supporting me, despite just how messed up and crazy everything was.

I revelled in the feeling of his hand clasping over mine.

“It worries me” He said.

“What does?”

“This...this whole prophecy thing. I mean, I’m not saying that you lied. It is the truth…I’m sure... He met my eyes. “It  _ could _ be true…Momo” He leaned forward, his hands clasping tighter onto me. “But someone could be playing with your mind”

I looked at him as something sharp and uncomfortable settled inside me, like shrapnels in my heart. “Why...why do you say so?”

Jason sighed heavily, sitting back. “You see, Shamans? That-that Godzilla thing? They’re all myths! Things that were in stories, that people believed in, that is not real! Shamans especially are just psychological...bullcrap. They play with your mind and drive you to believe them…”

I opened my mouth to respond, but no words were coming out. My heart started beating so fast, my fists clenched until my knuckles turned white. What Jason was implying was dangerous and insane. Manipulation, mind play. But on the other hand, they could still be true.

And Loki, he, well...I didn’t know what to feel anymore. My mind was too muddled up to absorb this all at once.

Jason didn’t stop there. He continued, with every word he said sinking into my mind, and actually making sense than anything I’ve known.

“You yourself said that he was some god of...lies right?”

“Mischief” I whispered.

“Mischief, right” He sighed. “So that is playing tricks. And not just any tricks, Momo. He is the one who killed people and destroyed a city. And I’m betting my life on it, he is one of those crazy little shits who wants World domination”

“That’s ridiculous” I said.

“I know” Jason licked his lips. “But that could also be true. Look” 

Jason pulled out his phone and clicked a few things as I patiently waited. And soon, he placed the phone before me. It was an article written in a different language, a couple of blurry images from security cameras and distant shots; yet there was one thing that I could identify very clearly. The godly form of the god of mischief in his high crown and golden armour, in his hands was what only looked like a tall scepter . I knew what that was. His weapon, the one he’d used back in New York to kill everyone, the thing that appeared in the headlines. He had come to Seoul without it but if he could get that golden armour from god knows where, who was I to say that he wouldn’t do the same with that weapon? And upon closer inspection, I saw something even more terrifying. An entire congregation of people sitting before him, and he standing above them all, his armour and weaponry glimmering in the dark. I felt a chill down my spine. I hadn’t seen any of this. The entire time I had thought his only intention was to get back at his father and brother. I knew that he had brought an entire alien army onto earth. But I had then thought he was under the influence of his anger and perhaps something more, that he had a story that he didn’t tell.

But then this...this is straight up psychotic. And I never even knew that this had happened.

The article was in german, and Jason promptly translated it. The translation itself wasn’t entirely accurate. But I got the gist of it. He had gone to Germany, an evening ball in a city called Stuttgart where he had attacked and killed a man, stolen something that had been otherwise secured, and claimed something that had only insinuated just what Jason said. World domination. He had done some crazy shit there which involved the intervention of the heroes who fought him in New York. He’d later been arrested, and that’s all the article said. I imagined it was after then that hell broke loose.

I felt cold sweats on my skin. I had been fooled all along, then. All for his benefit, and he had possibly played my mind.

And to say that I trusted him? Goosbumps had raised on my skin. I had lived with and supported a man that had intended to use me for his own brutal, self-beneficial schemes all along. I hadn’t been trying to save humanity. I’d been willingly  putting it in danger. I had let him use me and let the entire world down. I had failed.

“I saw a couple of videos.” Jason went on, now quieter perhaps after sensing my shock of response. “I was worried that I did my part of research. And I found this…” 

He opened his youtube account, went onto his liked videos. It was one from the German breaking news reporting the incident. He turned on the translated subtitles, and although inaccurate, it did say enough.

“He’d been quite eloquent about it, apparently” Jason muttered as we both watched an old man speaking of his experience. And if anything, the man looked genuinely terrified as he spoke of how Loki had apparently ordered everyone to kneel. When he had boldly refused, well.  His voice shook even as he spoke of it. 

“His idea of power is absolute despotism. One king above all” 

Almost instantly, the conversation we had on the Han river bank came to my mind. He had talks of a superior ruler, a better king. Even then did he have the same thing in his mind? I had thought, upon his silence at my revelation that something must have changed in him, even at the Mapo bridge and then on the Nseoul tower when he had spoken of his painful past. Everything he’d said and done, everything that we’ve done together, he’d only been genuine and honest in my eyes. Now that I was seeing everything in perspectives, Jason was right. He had manipulated me in all of his elegant, graceful ways; and most certainly, just like anyone would, I had fallen for it.

And frankly, now I was terrified.

Jason sighed and put down his phone. “If he is going to get back to this, then we need to stop him”

I nodded, yet I was having a hard time absorbing things. I remembered that time went to Kyunghee, all of a sudden. That time we’d thought building the gamma ray tracing machine was possible. What he said to the professor at that time had definitely stayed in my mind. It was a story that Jason probably did not know; and I just didn’t feel compelled to share it with me, as if it was the smallest glimmer of hope , that he might be different now, that he might actually perceived humanity differently. Even then was it world domination that he had in mind?

“What do we do now?” I asked, and  realised that it was a question directed more to myself. Jason looked down at me, his brows furrowed, hands mindlessly playing with his chopsticks. I felt I might be too knee deep in this now. I was already swamped, and whatever happened, I would still be a part of it. But Jason, Jason was still on the ground. If there was anyone who could pull me out of this now, it was him. 

“We shouldn’t let him take it,” Jason replied finally, with resolve. “We shouldn’t let him take the tesseract”

Almost instantly, I remembered that only he, a god, was able to touch the tesseract. He hadn’t told me what happens would a non-god touched it; but I was guessing it wouldn’t be pretty. Yet, just as I opened my mouth to tell him this he interjected.

“What we should do is, we’ll go along with what he does, and as soon as we get hands on it, we take him to this SHIELD people, and we’re done…”

I nodded almost absently. Something occured in my mind, seeing the shine of determination in Jason’s eyes. Something that I hadn’t thought of before. The prophecy. It all made sense now.

“That’s...that’s a fool-proof plan” I told him, and then, as I couldn’t help myself with the uncanny way things suddenly made sense; “Jason, I just realised something”

“Yeah?” He prompted me on. I took a deep breath.

“You know, if the-the prophecy had any sense of truth...I mean, it probably doesn’t, But hypothetically speaking, _ if  _ it does…” I was stammering now, exhilarated at how much it all made uncanny sense now. 

“Uh huh”

“It says...there’s a line, umm” I licked my lips, recalling the words in my mind. “ _ The god...will rise, _ _   
_ _ The king...will lose, The lovers...the lovers!”  _ My heart was beating so hard even as I said the words. if the prophecy was actually real, that’s what they were talking about. The god was Loki, and the King was also him but he would lose. And the lovers who would fight together, it had to be Jason and me. I was certain. It had to be us. 

I told him this, and Jason burst out with laughter, lightening the mood again. “Well hypothetically speaking, yes, that is true” he tousled my head. “But how does the next line go?”

I promptly recalled it by heart.  _ “The god...will rise, The king...will lose, The lovers...will fight together… The warriors...would- _ ” my shoulders fell. “Oh”

Jason laughed once again. “Now that’s why it isn’t true…” He turned serious again. “But you and I, Momo, we’re going to fight this together. We don’t have magic or tricks or whatever he had, but we have a good cause, and we obviously have each other, so…” 

Jason held out his hand to me, and I regarded it as an uncomfortable weight settled in my heart. On one hand, this mess sounded just right. The deceits, the tricks, Loki’s intention of tyrannical rule; all of this. They all made sense to me. On the other hand, Loki and everything that we’d been together, and the possibility that Jason had taken it all wrong. He hadn’t taken lightly to Loki all from the beginning, and this could be that he was putting him in the bad based on his own opinion. Anything was possible.

I looked at the hand held out to me, and then at Jason who gazed at me, warmth and promise in his eyes. 

There was that question. Who would I trust the most? If we were in a fire, the three of us with me trapped under a tree; who would stay behind and help me through? Who would abandon me to die? If I were to answer this question; if I were to rule out who would possibly care for me the most, the answer was evident. The answer was clearly right in front of me. The answer was clear in his eyes. I would be a fool to choose a man who’d probably used me over the one that I had loved for so long. I would have been a fool to think that I would have mattered more to the man who’d landed on my roof last week than to the man who’d sacrificed himself to dry and tasteless fried chicken for six months.

“Well?” Jason prompted, and I felt a smile spreading across my lips. The truth was still unclear; yet at this point, it was a matter of choice. It was a matter of choice in whom I trusted, whom I would stand with, and whom I believed would do the same for me. And it was easy. At least I hadn’t the worry of mistrust and deceit.

I put my hand on top of his, and giggled as he enclosed it in between his warm palms. The heat of his skin made me feel secure, reassured. And suddenly I felt as if I had, for once, done it right. 

“So?” He raised his brows. “Princess Miyawaki Momo. When do we start?”

  
  
  



End file.
